Trump Mobile executives have shown off a handset they say is a near-production model of the T1 phone to The Verge, according to a report Friday afternoon. Among other changes to its looks, the smartphone appears to have a completely different camera array design than the one still being shown on the T1 purchase page.
The Verge says it spoke with two Trump Mobile executives over a video call, where they held up the phone so it could be seen. The interview follows concerns about if the phone will ever be released, after its second advertised launch date of the end of 2025 came and went without any status updates. As of Feb. 6, the phone’s webpage still lists it as being released «later this year» — the same thing it said last year.
Trump Mobile launched in June last year with a $47.45 a month mobile phone plan, and currently sells refurbished Apple and Samsung phones ranging between $369 and $629 while the wait for the T1 phone continues.
The Trump phone was initially announced to launch in August 2025 and be made in the US, but when the realization dawned that large-scale smartphone manufacturing in the US would not be possible, Trump Mobile dropped that «made in the US» claim. Now, the site simply calls the phone «Proudly American» without specifying what that means for phones manufactured overseas.
The site is still accepting $100 deposits on the phone. According to the website, it will have a 6.25-inch Punch Hole AMOLED screen, a 50MP main rear camera with another two 2MP lenses, a 16MP front-facing camera, a 5,000mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor and face unlock. It’ll pack 256GB of expandable storage.
According to the model that The Verge saw on its video call this week, however, the screen looks a little larger and has a waterfall display with curved edges, as well as a vertical camera array. It’ll also reportedly run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 series processor, and have 512GB of storage and a 50MP front-facing camera. According to the report, the T1 logo will also disappear before launch, though the phone will keep the American flag imagery.
It’ll also now cost more, according to the report: those who have already put down a $100 deposit are locked into the $499 total price, but everyone else who wants this golden Trump phone will pay an unknown amount more. It will be under $1,000, the report says.
According to the executives speaking to The Verge, the phone has been delayed because the company decided to take its time and «skip our first initial entry-level phone that we were going to kind of introduce and be quick to the market.» They told The Verge it’s being made in a «favored nation» with «final assembly» in Florida. It’s unclear what qualifies another nation as «favored» to handle most of the assembly of the T1 phone.
There’s no word yet on the T1 phone’s launch date, but its sellers are reportedly eyeing a March release window.
You can read the full report on The Verge, including photos of what the phone currently looks like. Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.