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Trump Mobile, the phone company launched by the Trump Organization, has delayed plans to ship its gold-coloured smartphone by the end of this year.
It marks the latest setback for the project, which had originally promised to offer a US-made smartphone this year costing $499 to compete with mainstream devices from Apple and Samsung but has subsequently scaled back its ambitions.
Trump Mobile’s customer service team told the Financial Times that the recent US government shutdown had delayed deliveries of the phone. It added there was a “strong possibility” the device would not be shipped this month.
The “T1” device, along with a mobile plan costing $47.45 per month, announced in June, was one of several efforts by the Trump family business to capitalise on his return to the White House.
The launch coincided with US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Apple for its heavy reliance on Chinese manufacturers. He demanded that the iPhone maker build the devices in the US while threatening it, as well as Samsung, with 25 per cent tariffs.
Trump Mobile initially said the T1 would be launched in August and “built in the United States”, with a $100 pre-order payment to secure the device.
Its claim that the device would be American made was met with scepticism by supply chain analysts and industry experts. They noted that building a device with mass consumer appeal using only US components would be near impossible given the overwhelming reliance on Asian supply chains by existing smartphone suppliers.
Less than 5 per cent of the components in an iPhone are currently manufactured in the US, according to IDC estimates.
Within weeks of the launch, Trump Mobile rowed back on its claim, tweaking its promotional material to say it would instead be “brought to life in the United States.” The August launch date for the T1 was later pushed back to the end of the year.
More recently, Trump Mobile has started offering second-hand devices from the two dominant smartphone providers in the US, Apple and Samsung.
It offers the iPhone 15, launched in 2023, at $629. The website says that its second-hand devices come “without the inflated price tag”. A new iPhone 16, launched last year, costs $699 if bought directly from Apple.
Trump Mobile also sells second-hand models of the Samsung S24, launched at the start of 2024, for $459, slightly lower than the price of a second-hand version of the same device from Samsung’s own website, where it is priced at $489.
The team behind Trump Mobile has kept a low profile since the launch event. The president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, said they had “partnered with some of the greatest people in the industry” to target “lacklustre performance” in the mobile sector.
A trio of Trump Mobile executives — Pat O’Brien, Eric Thomas and Don Hendrickson — was introduced, although little about their background was disclosed at the time.
Trump Mobile’s device chief, Thomas, was the owner of a real estate business called Olympus Constructors in Utah, the company confirmed to the Financial Times.
O’Brien is president of Ensurety Ventures, a Missouri-based insurance company that operates Trump Mobile’s customer service line.
Hendrickson is listed online as an executive vice-president at Liberty Mobile Wireless, the little-known Florida-based virtual network operator that supplies the Trump Mobile plan, which is run out of Trump Tower in Miami. At the event in June, O’Brien said Hendrickson had a background in the pager industry.
Trump Mobile, Thomas and O’Brien did not respond to requests for comment. Hendrickson could not be reached for comment.
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