An estimated 590,000 buyers paid a £74 ($100) deposit to secure one, collectively handing the venture roughly £43.7 million ($59 million). As of May 2026, not a single confirmed customer has received the device. Now, a fresh wave of anger is spreading across MAGA forums after buyers received communication making clear that their money is, for all practical purposes, gone.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    Tots And Pears!

    Seriously, how fucking stupid did you have to be to even want one of these, never mind the fact that it’s associated with a total con man known for failing and not paying debts and scams?

  • dan@upvote.au
    96·
    2 days ago

    What a surprise - the phone that was a photoshopped Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in a Spigen case isn’t real.

    There is absolutely no way a phone that’s made in the USA could be sold for only $499.

    The Trump phone plan is a grift too. $47.45/month and you only get 20GB high speed data, when you can get 70GB (or actual unlimited, depending on network) from US Mobile for less than half the price.

    • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
      24·
      2 days ago

      $47.45/month

      Wait was it pitched at “47.45” because…of his presidential terms?! THAT’S SO STUPID!

      Lol it also illustrates the mentality so well, that the numbers are out of sequence but this would hypothetically squeeze people for 2 more bucks, so of course that’s what they’re gonna do.

    • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
      11·
      2 days ago

      There is absolutely no way a phone that’s made in the USA could be sold for only $499.

      TBF - no wait, fairness is wrong here -
      playing devil’s advocate, they did dial back on that claim somewhat, it was known that this will be some off-brand device, most likely made in China.

      • dan@upvote.au
        25·
        2 days ago

        They originally said it was going to be 100% American made for that price, and only toned it down later on. Now they just say “Designed with American values in mind”, whatever that means.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
          7·
          2 days ago

          “Designed with American values in mind”

          “Everyone involved in the design and supply chain was promised they’d be paid in exposure after the work was completed.”

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
          9·
          2 days ago

          It means “we’ll make sure to use exploitive underpaid overseas labor in its production and make this product at the lowest price possible” because what could be more American than that?

        • KingPorkChop@lemmy.caEnglish
          8·
          2 days ago

          “Designed with American values in mind”

          This means the phone will rape and traffic children and you won’t care.

        • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          “Designed with American values in mind”, whatever that means.

          Nothing. Non-commital verbiage aka hot air.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        2 days ago

        Canadian here - I pay less than $30 taxes in for a grandfathered plan that started with 2GB of data and they kept giving me retention bonuses in the last few years. So now I have about 25GB of data.

      • KingPorkChop@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        I pay around $50 with Bell. It does everything I need. Granted, I think I only get 15-20 GB download, but my phone is almost always connected to external wifi. Some months I barely use more than 5 GB.

  • aarch0x40@piefed.socialEnglish
    58·
    2 days ago

    But as a consolation, you can be first in line to place a $250 deposit on Trump 2 Phone (full price just $750)!

  • dustycups@aussie.zone
    59·
    2 days ago

    Does anyone have the actual email? I want to see the bullshit language used to let these rubes down.

    • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
      9·
      1 day ago

      A quick search did not reveal it, but the article above states

      The clearest signal yet that buyers may never see either a phone or their money came with a revised terms of service published on 6 April 2026.

      And an AOL article has some text

      “A preorder deposit provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale. A deposit is not a purchase, does not constitute acceptance of an order, does not create a contract for sale, does not transfer ownership or title interest, does not allocate or reserve specific inventory, and does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase.”

      Let that sink in: they revised the TOS after people already paid. I truly hope they get sued.

  • CosmicTurtle0 [he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    24·
    2 days ago

    Up next: “Attorneys” that reach out to these people saying that in order to form a class action, they need to pay a retainer of $1000. For each person they bring into the class, they get a higher percentage of any “winnings”.

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    9·
    2 days ago

    How could this be. They promised all the reliability and dependebility one comes to expect from the trump admini…oooohhhh. yeah that tracks. did the communication go out on a tuesday?