this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
490 points (98.8% liked)

News

37531 readers
1175 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 1 points 13 minutes ago

I’m a bit confused but my understanding is they updated the TOS. The new terms say it is at the discretion of the president if he wants to offer the phone for sale or not

[–] Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago
[–] febra@lemmy.world 10 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

So you're telling me people willingly gave money to the guy that is notorious for scamming people and running every business he touches into bankruptcy?

[–] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

People do be the stupid.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 10 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

What I find hilarious about this is that it came out in 2025 and were competitors to Samsung and Iphone and the price point was supposedly $500.

Did people expect it to be "made in America" (whatever that means) and comparable to the next Gen model of Samsung or Android?

My focus on this is why did they price it at that level? Did they not expect their supporters to pay $799 or $999?

[–] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 hour ago

Purism sells a “made in America” phone and it costs over $2000.

[–] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

made* in America

*units shipped from China to an Argentinian facility (South America is technically "America") to add the gaudy branding, then shipped to the USA for sale.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Or they were to have "fallen off a truck" during tarriff negotiations....

[–] rozodru@piefed.world 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The fact that there was never a phone, never going to be a phone or plan, and they still took deposits and then said "yeah, you're not getting those back" would land any other person in front of a judge and promptly into a prison cell.

If you or I ran this scam you know that would be the outcome. This is just another clear example that if you're a person of power and wealth the laws simply don't apply to you. This isn't a United States issue, this is a clear example of a world wide issue that we as regular people should be rioting over. I don't care what country you're in you HAVE people in your countries that do this shit daily. We should be placing heads on pikes.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Interesting.

Youtube talking head did a video a week ago about where is his trump phone.

He read aloud a clause in the contract that they didnt need to provide a phone or a refund if the company so decided.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

"Who'd have thought a convicted conman would commit fraud again!? There's literally no way we could have predicted this would happen! No way at all! It's not as though there's a list or anything! We should have a list!"

"There's a list right h..."

"FAKE NEWS!!!"

[–] mellowistheyellow@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

lol people actually paid for this and thought they would get something? So many Americans are ignorant beyond belief

[–] Paddzr@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

590k of people... holy fuck.

[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Meh..... .001% of the population being that stupid isnt really that surprising. Especially considering they all more than likely voted for him.

[–] Paddzr@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

How did you get .001%?

There's 338 million. Base model of iphone sold 22 million in USA to give you better perspective. This is a big number of scam victims.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

590K/338M = 0.001745...

So 0.2%.

Verdict: Not the worst mathing i've seen.

[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 2 points 48 minutes ago

I was art major so much appreciated lol

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Guys guys, forget about the phone, trump is launching the "golden houses". Just make a deposit of 30k, and you will totally get an amazing palace 100% made of american gold and built by white heterosexual americans workers. This is going to be big, you should pre-order right now.

[–] El_Scapacabra@lemmy.zip 4 points 12 hours ago

Will it have a ballroom?

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

Reads fine print

"House will be in the USA."

HARD Pass.

[–] magnue@lemmy.world 125 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Vote down the drain. Money down the drain. America down the drain.

[–] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

America down the drain.

The more I think about this, the more I'm fine with it.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] darkmogool@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago
[–] dan@upvote.au 92 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (13 children)

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 points 1 day 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.

[–] suxen_tsihcrana@anarchist.nexus 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Those gigabytes were going to be gold-plated and oxygen-free, to be fair

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] aarch0x40@piefed.social 57 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 26 points 1 day ago

You probably aren't even kidding.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] prex@aussie.zone 58 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 7 points 17 hours 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.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 15 points 1 day ago

Shows everything you need to know about MAGA, when the bastard hawks altered, cheap, self-glorifying Bibles the "religious right" is maybe mildly grumbly.

Grift them with a smartphone though and NOW THEY'RE SUDDENLY PRETTY ANGRY.

Their idolatry is obvious. One cannot serve both God and the stupidest political faction the U.S has ever seen since the confederacy.

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".

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 day ago

MAGA is the pinnacle of stupidity.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 9 points 1 day 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?

[–] chetradley@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Don't do that to that poster, what did it do to you?

[–] newton@feddit.online 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago (8 children)

I love the uneducated

🤡

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] lovingisliving@anarchist.nexus 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Who could have seen this coming?? Oh wait, anyone with a brain.

[–] unreliable@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 1 day ago

This has always been about money laundering; some fools got involved along with it though.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›