The Trump Organisation's $499 (£368) T1 smartphone, originally slated for a September 2025 release, has finally begun shipping in May 2026—nine months late—but early reviews have uncovered a glaring error: the American flag on the device features 11 stripes instead of the correct 13.
The phone, marketed as an 'all-American' alternative to devices from Google, Apple, and Samsung, was initially promoted as being made entirely in the US. However, that claim has been dropped, replaced by the vaguer slogan 'designed with American values in mind'. Trump Mobile CEO Pat O'Brien told USA Today that components will be primarily manufactured in America, but the handset itself is not assembled in the US.
Tech experts have noted that the T1 bears a strong resemblance to the HTC U-24 Pro, a two-year-old model made in Taiwan. Shahram Mokhtari, an engineer at iFixit, told NBC News: 'It looks physically very similar, and that matches with what we've been told so far.' Tech Advisor has criticised the Trump Organisation for pricing the phone at roughly the same level as the HTC U-24 Pro when it was new in 2024.
Despite promises from O'Brien that orders would be fulfilled 'in several weeks', pre-order terms and conditions have been updated to state that a deposit 'provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale', raising doubts about whether the phone will ever reach customers.
