00:00590,000 people paid $100 deposits for a gold Trump phone.
00:06Now the company is quietly admitting some people may never receive it.
00:09Here's what's happening.
00:10Last June, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump announced Trump Mobile,
00:15a new wireless network selling a gold American flag-covered smartphone
00:19called the T1 mobile device.
00:21$499 for the device, $47.45 a month for the plan.
00:25Pre-orders opened with a $100 deposit that same day and 590,000 people signed up.
00:31That's $59 million.
00:34Now the phone was supposed to ship in August, then November,
00:38then December, then March, then April, and now there's no date at all.
00:42And on April 6th, Trump Mobile quietly rewrote its terms.
00:46The updated language says a deposit does not guarantee the phone will ever be produced or shipped.
00:51According to The Verge, the T1 recently cleared both FCC authorization and PTCRB certification,
00:57the regulatory requirements any phone needs before launching in the U.S.
01:01On top of that, the company says deposits are fully refundable if customers ask.
01:06But asking is on you.
01:07You have to reach out to a team member yourself.
01:09The money will not come back automatically.
01:11And according to The Hill, your $100 deposit doesn't even lock in the $499 price.
01:16If it ever ships, the final cost could be different.
01:19Critics in the Trump voter base say the biggest broken promise isn't just the timeline, it's the label.
01:25The phone was originally advertised as proudly designed and built in the United States.
01:30That language has disappeared.
01:31It now says designed with American values in mind,
01:34and executives have confirmed manufacturing will happen overseas, likely in China.
01:39But avid Trump supporters say almost every smartphone is built overseas,
01:43and final assembly in the U.S. still counts.
01:45They also say hardware startups miss timelines all the time.
01:49The certifications are real, and the refund option means nobody's stuck.
01:53So, here's the big question.
01:54Is this a real company grinding through startup delays,
01:57or did 590,000 people hand over $59 million
02:01for a phone that was never going to ship in the first place?
02:04Drop your take in the comments and follow us here for more.
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