- Trump Mobile has changed the T1 phone pre-order deposit terms and conditions
- The new terms suggest the phone may never be delivered
- It’s the latest in a long line of embarrassments for a product that increasingly looks like vaporware
The Trump Mobile T1 Phone is the gift that just keeps on giving – well, as long as you haven’t paid a deposit for one. For everyone else, this is one of the most entertaining and confusing ongoing stories in technology.
In May, the T1 phone — first announced back in June 2025 — still hadn’t shipped, and it also missed its previous March shipping estimate. So when will people actually receive it? Well, maybe never.
While around 590,000 potential buyers have paid a $100 (approx £75 /AU$140) deposit to secure the gold-coloured T1, so far no one appears to have received the handset, and changes to the product’s terms and conditions cast further doubt on whether it will ever ship.
As spotted by International Business Times UK, an April 6 update to T1’s terms and conditions specifies that paying a deposit “does not constitute a purchase, does not constitute acceptance of an order, does not create a contract for sale, does not transfer ownership or title, does not assign or reserve specific inventory, and does not guarantee that a unit will be produced or made available for purchase.”
It also includes the telling addition that this payment “provides a contingent option only if Trump Mobile later chooses, in its sole discretion, to offer the device for sale.”
This warning suggests that the company may choose not to sell the T1 phone at all, and with all mention of a possible release date now scrubbed from the Trump Mobile website, we probably won’t be seeing this phone anytime soon anyway.
Growing frustration
Right now, potential buyers are understandably unhappy. In fact, some have been for a long time, with Joseph Cox of 404 Media, for example, describing the pre-order process as “‘the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product.’
But as the wait goes on, more and more people are understandably getting frustrated; penguinz0 recently posted a lengthy YouTube video about his frustrations.
If you’re among those who paid a deposit, you could in theory at least contact Trump Mobile to request a refund — something you should strongly consider doing, especially since the updated terms also say that “device specifications, features, software, hardware components, storage capacity, bundled accessories, colors, and configurations are subject to change prior to final sale,” so you might not even end up buying the phone you’re putting down a deposit on.
And even getting a refund might not be easy – while the terms and conditions say you can request one, there are unconfirmed reports of people receiving emails saying the deposit is non-refundable. Who could have seen this coming?
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