Why We’re Going to Keep Talking About the Trump Phone

For the past few weeks, I’ve been asking — repeatedly — where the promised Trump Phone actually is, whether it exists, and what happened to all the money that people have already paid in deposits. And I’m going to keep asking those questions every week until it's resolved.

Not everyone agrees that this story deserves ongoing attention. I’ve been told that covering Trump Mobile is “playing into his hands,” that “this obvious con doesn’t need any more publicity,” and that “we don’t need to read about it literally every week.” Those are just some of the polite messages. The others — you don’t want to see.

Still, I think it’s fair to explain why we’re doing this. Why keep covering a phone that, as far as anyone can tell, doesn’t actually exist? Why not just call it what it seems — bad and impossible — and move on?

The Short Answer: Because It Matters

The long answer? Because this story isn’t over — and it still needs to be reported.

If the T1 Phone 8002 had actually shipped to customers, even as a poorly made device, that would have been the end of it. We’d review it, note its flaws, and move on. But that hasn’t happened. No one has received the phone. No one has even seen it. And Trump Mobile has gone silent — no website updates, no new social media posts, nothing.

This situation lands squarely in TechAmerica’s wheelhouse. You want us to stick to phones? This is a phone — at least in name — and we’re determined to find out what’s really going on.

A Perfect Storm of Tech, Politics, and Accountability

The Trump Phone story sits right at the intersection of technology, regulation, and politics.

It’s a phone — that’s our beat. It’s likely vaporware, and we’re always ready to call out products that never materialise. It also raises regulatory concerns for agencies like the FCC, which makes it a story worth tracking. And yes, it’s political — tech and politics have always been intertwined, and TechAmerica has always covered that space.

But beyond all that, this story deserves attention because it represents something larger.

Symbolism Beyond the Device

In the grand scheme of things, a gold-plated Android phone that is unlikely to be made in the U.S. might seem insignificant. But it’s emblematic — a symbol of empty promises and grifts, of baseless claims made without expectation of accountability.

This is coming from an administration that presided over one of the biggest tech booms (or bubbles) in decades — one that had a tech executive as a key adviser and welcomed half of Silicon Valley to its inauguration. Yet somehow, it failed to recognise that you can’t mass-produce $500 Android smartphones in the United States profitably.

And that’s precisely why we keep talking about it.

For the third consecutive week, Trump Mobile has not responded to requests for comment.