technology

I spent a week using the Trump phone — it sucks

The Verge·July 10, 2026

I used the Trump phone for a week so that you don’t have to. The Trump phone was never a serious phone. Not when it was announced last June, in dodgy renders and with an incoherent spec sheet. Nor when Trump Mobile admitted - just two weeks later - that it wouldn't be made in the US. Not even when the company revealed the final phone, first to me over a video call in February and then to the world in April through a short commercial with the slick sheen of AI. It's now on sale for $499, past the days of its tenuous, ever-shifting release dates. A few buyers even have the phone, The Verge among them, though more still seem not to. It's clear now that the T1 is a real phone, but that doesn't mean it's …

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