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Surprise! Trump Mobile's T1 Phone is now on open sale even as pre-order mess remains unresolved
1 hour ago
- Trump Mobile has quietly opened general sales of its $499 T1 Phone.
- The move comes despite many early pre-order customers reportedly still not receiving their devices or updates.
- Android Authority also placed a pre-order by paying the required $100 deposit, but has yet to receive any shipping information or communication.
After months of delays and mounting controversy, the Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone is now seemingly available for anyone to buy.
The company has quietly opened orders for the $499 Android phone, even though many customers who pre-ordered the device are reportedly still waiting for theirs. Android Authority is among them. We paid the required $100 deposit when pre-orders first opened, but have yet to receive a shipping notification or any meaningful update from the company.
Interestingly, when we entered our shipping information on Trump Mobile’s website, the final checkout price increased from the advertised $499 to $540, including $41.75 labeled as an “Equipment Tax.” While the name is unusual, the amount closely matches what you’d expect from ordinary state and local sales tax on a $499 purchase.
Anyhow, opening sales to the public is an unusual move given the circumstances. Trump Mobile has yet to fulfill many pre-orders, and the T1 Phone has been surrounded by controversy over its marketing and origins since day one.
Most recently, the PR agency that had been representing Trump Mobile reportedly parted ways with the company. A recent teardown also suggested the T1 isn’t an all-new made-in-America smartphone after all, but rather a modified, gold-plated version of the HTC U24 Pro with a few hardware changes.
On paper, the phone offers aging mid-range specs, including a 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, 512GB of storage, a 50MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 50MP 2x telephoto camera, and a 50MP selfie shooter.
The T1 also packs a 5,000mAh battery, which is about 400mAh larger than the HTC U24 Pro’s battery, and supports 30W wired charging. It ships with Android 15 out of the box.
Whether those specifications are enough to convince buyers is another question. For now, many of the people who ordered the phone from day one are still waiting to receive the device they already paid a deposit for. Whether the company will be able to fulfill new orders remains to be seen.
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