Months after the Trump Mobile organization planned to release a $500 gold device supposedly built in the US called the T1 Phone, the phone is still not available -- and a new report suggests the wait will continue.

---

Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

---

According to a Financial Times report, a customer support representative for Trump Mobile said that we shouldn't expect the phone to be released this month and that the US government shutdown delayed the phone's delivery.

A representative for Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The delay is the latest turn in a saga that began when Trump Mobile launched in June with a $47.45 a month mobile phone plan, claiming that it would launch a smartphone made in the US by August 2025. When presented with overwhelming evidence that manufacturing a smartphone entirely in the US at a large scale is virtually impossible, Trump Mobile walked back those claims.

Currently, Trump Mobile is still accepting $100 deposits for the T1 Phone, which it calls "Proudly American," with features including a 6.25-inch AMOLED screen, a 120Hz refresh rate, 256GB of storage with a card slot for expansion and a 50-megapixel camera. The phone's webpage still lists it as being released "later this year." 

The Trump Mobile website now also offers refurbished rival phones from Apple and Samsung, including a $629 iPhone 15 and a $459 Samsung Galaxy S24.