The Internet was WRONG: Trump Phone is "Shipping"

[00:03] deposit for the Trump T1 phone. Not because I wanted one, but because I figured it would be a pretty funny video when the made-in-America obvious Photoshop job turned out to be as fake as a degree from Trump University. And

[00:16] yet, [music] somehow, after a nearly year-long roller coaster that's involved multiple changes to the visuals, the specifications, and the timeline, the Trump phone finally has apparently just started

[00:30] shipping. And it turns out NBC News of all people was at the front of the line for a delivery. The whole thing's a bit surreal because just a couple of weeks ago, misinformation about this thing was everywhere with social media users and

[00:44] even some reputable-looking publications claiming that nearly 600,000 customers claiming that nearly 600,000 customers had been ripped off with no refunds, no compensation, and no phone in sight. Source for that?

[01:01] that nobody seems to know exactly what's going on. Or almost no one. See, one intrepid reporter at The Verge has been on this story like a dog on a bone, sending relentless requests for comment, and

[01:16] publishing weekly updates. Hi, I'm Dom Preston. I'm one of the news editors at going to kind of hit it once a month, and then we decided why don't we just be really really annoying about it, and we will just hit it every week.

[01:29] >> We spoke with Dom, we scoured the internet archive, and we braved the flaming garbage fire that used to be a different flaming garbage fire, all in >> [music] >> and trace the path that the Trump T1

[01:42] phone has followed from the $100 deposit to the delivery that I'm expecting any day now. Just like I'm expecting this segway to OUR SPONSOR. WOAH, THAT WAS SICK. You know what else is sick? Saying no to water and yes to

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[02:18] its golden escalator, the Trump T1 phone was an absolute mess. For $500, it promised a device entirely made on US soil featuring a sleek golden aesthetic.

[02:30] when it became apparent that the announcement used an obviously photoshopped image of an iPhone along with specs that were more in line with a mid-range Android device. Or at least the specs that made any sense were. What

[02:44] exactly is a 5,000 milliamp hour long life camera? We were expecting to find out pretty soon. The June 16th press release mentioned an August launch of the phone. But wait, the website said September? Putting fuel on the fire, the

[02:57] T1's signature promise of being made in America was quickly debunked by electronics manufacturing experts, which forced the language on the website to be replaced with similarisms like American proud design and American hands behind

[03:11] specs went through what would be only their first major change, downgrading the screen size and then de-committing from 12 gigs of RAM to some unlisted amount. Four days later, Trump Mobile shared a different image of the supposed

[03:25] phone. An image that also turned out to be a badly photoshopped iPhone, which was recently taken down. All of this took place in the first two weeks and no matter what your political leanings are, all of it seemed a bit unusual for a

[03:39] phone that was supposedly on the verge of being shipped to customers. Speaking of The Verge, this isn't Samsung doing this. If Samsung comes out with a weird we're going to have a phone in a couple months." You kind of go, "Okay, that's

[03:51] will do that. They wouldn't say it if they weren't going to do it." What's Mobile is it didn't look a lot like they had made a phone. The Verge's UK news editor, Dom Preston, is only one of many journalists who have investigated what

[04:05] could be called the most politically charged smartphone ever. But, he told us why he felt that his outlet had a special role to play in the saga. The Verge is in not a totally unique place, but a relatively unique place in that we

[04:18] cover a lot of consumer tech, but we also cover a lot of the policy and the politics around the tech industry. So, it it dovetails nicely for us in that we're lucky we're a relatively big team in the industry, so we kind of had the

[04:32] resource to be able to say, "Hey, let's take someone and just say that they have to give up a day every week to push at this thing." And push at it they did. Trump phone nearly every week over the next few months, during which time the

[04:45] drama slowed down. But, only a little. I mean, there was the time the Trump Mobile team shamelessly ripped off and tweeted yet another fake image of the T1. This time it was a Galaxy S25 Ultra in what was obviously a

[04:57] Spigen case, to which Spigen humorously replied, "Lawsuit incoming." And, in the did put up listings for refurbished iPhones and Galaxy phones that were, unsurprisingly, pretty bad deals. However, there was a bright spot in the

[05:12] story. The launch of the Trump Mobile cellular service and their 47 plan seems I think we're one of the few outlets that really went and signed up and paid

[05:24] or two to see what happened. And I mean, the I think the boring answer was it just worked, you know? They're just an MVNO. It was phone service. It was fine. It said Trump on your phone screen in the in the control bar. And And that was

[05:37] about it. Which makes sense. If you don't know, MVNOs, or mobile virtual network operators, lease network capacity from established carriers and then offer things like flexible plans, better customer service, and device

[05:51] support to help differentiate from the big dogs. So, Trump Mobile is basically T-Mobile cell service for cheaper, but then not as cheap as Mint Mobile, which is an MVNO that was acquired by T-Mobile back in 2024. There are some unique

[06:06] extras like telehealth and roadside assistance, but Trump Mobile is careful to disclaim that they take no responsibility for the quality of the services. Anyway, the point is Trump Mobile did turn out to be a real

[06:19] functioning wireless service, so maybe the T1 phone is real, too. It's just about it. For example, there was a widely circulated claim that the phone got nearly 600,000 pre-orders, which caused Trump

[06:33] phone-related fake news to spawn in like textures in a Bethesda game, but The Verge traced that claim back to an unsubstantiated tweet. Then in early May, Hey, Trump supporter here. WHERE THE IS MY PHONE?

[06:46] >> THE INTERNET exploded with claims about how it was now confirmed that the Trump deposits would never be refunded. The problem with that? Not only were those claims not confirmed, the evidence actually pointed the exact opposite way.

[07:00] Social media posts kept referencing Trump Mobile's pre-order terms and conditions, which were updated on April 6th and did contain plenty of vague does not guarantee that the device will be produced [music] or made available

[07:15] for purchase, and that if they do actually make the phone, it does not website's very clear all caps instructions to lock in your promo pricing now. But, in spite of all that, the terms do state in no uncertain terms

[07:29] back, you are more than welcome to have it. Whether Trump Mobile will actually honor those promises is, of course, unclear, but what was already clear before For of that social media nonsense, was pretty good evidence that

[07:44] nonsense, was pretty good evidence that the T1 phone did exist and would ship at some point. In February, Dom's relentless email barrage finally secured him an interview with two Trump Mobile executives who showed a physical sample

[07:57] of the T1 phone. A phone that looked quite a bit like a pre-existing HTC phone, but we'll talk about that a bit later. First, after the interview, Dom also found records for a T1 phone that had recently passed both FCC and PTCRB

[08:12] certification, which is not the kind of thing you just casually apply for. It's You've got to get these phones. They have to go through a rigorous bank of of and that kind of thing which is very expensive. You wouldn't do that unless

[08:25] genuinely trying to put out on some level. And put out on some level they are. Or are they? On May 13th, a Wednesday, Trump Mobile [music] finally announced that the T1 phone would start shipping this week.

[08:40] They used three whole exclamation marks, which was a little weird, but not nearly as weird as the super obviously AI-generated video of their supposedly >> real phone. Man, this thing's a doozy. The back changes color, the phone

[08:53] performs some unconventional physics-defying moves, and again? But but don't worry, guys. The phone's totally going to ship this week. But which I I technically it did. Just

[09:08] only to one guy. Yep. As of Wednesday, May the 20th, when I'm recording this, the only person or entity that is confirmed to have received a T1 is Brian Cheung at NBC News. He made a first look video verifying the T1's weird number of

[09:23] US flag stripes, as well as talking with iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari about its iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari about its striking similarity to the HTC U24, a mid-range Android device from 2024. They also discussed the absurdity of the

[09:35] initial made-in-America claim, given that the phone is clearly made in Taiwan using parts from all over. You know, like phones are. That claim has since "made [clears throat] in a favored nation with final assembly in Miami",

[09:49] phone assembly works, I would guess basically means packing the USB cable Miami at all. Wait, you're not finished editing the Trump phone yet, right? No, not yet. >> Okay, good. Because we just found out

[10:02] CNET also posted unboxing. So, that means there are two confirmed Trump phones in existence, unless NBC sent theirs Okay, we don't know how many there are, but we should add a little thing. Oh,

[10:14] but we should add a little thing. Oh, good. You're filming this. Perfect. >> [music] >> tacky yellow paint job aside, the T1 appears to be a normal, if unexceptional, Android phone.

[10:29] Which is terrible news for poor Dom. My biggest fear is we get the phone, we and it's fine. It's just uh That's the most boring outcome of this whole thing. This has been a This has

[10:43] been a year of my life like covering this thing, right? And I would like this to end in dramatic fashion. So, I want this either to be the worst phone I've ever touched, and I get to write the one-star review of being like, you know,

[10:55] this is awful. Or I want to write the "Guys, this thing is amazing. I can't it's a really good phone." >> One way or another, it looks like he's >> [music] >> TM. Either way, when I eventually get

[11:07] mine, it looks like it's going to be a golden HTC U24. So, what is that then? promise? I'm probably going to throw Dom's right up on that in the video >> [music] >> basically, it's a $470 phone from 2

[11:22] years ago that does meet most of the initial specs, including even the 12 gigs of RAM that they backtracked on. So, not terrible, but not worth $500 today. But, that didn't stop people from buying it. This just happened like

[11:35] is going to be coming. But, a security flaw was found on the Trump mobile website and was flagged to YouTubers like Moist Critical and Coffeezilla. The latter of which noted that it appears that the database contains about 30,000

[11:49] reservations. So, not as many as almost 600,000, but still a cool $15 million of their orders. Which finally gets you all caught up on

[12:02] the saga of Trump mobile and the T1 phone. So far, this has been an even wilder ride than the last time that a rich guy painted a regular phone gold and then tried to pass it off as his own. And I'm sure there is more to come.

[12:14] sense, it's a huge story. It's like, what do you mean the president's family it's just I don't know, it's this weird small Android phone that's mid-range, this small niche thing and and we often

[12:29] Like, this doesn't matter. But, we also just think it's a bit emblematic of of bigger picture stuff going on in the states, going on in the why we stuck at it so hard. Just like I've stuck at the segue to our sponsor.

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