It’s been properly established that the Trump Telephone doesn’t exist. However that isn’t the one telephone Trump Cell sells. It additionally provides a spread of refurbished Apple and Samsung handsets that you could purchase proper now. You actually shouldn’t although.
I used to be relieved studying Allison’s protection during the last two weeks to find that not all the things about Trump Cell is a rip-off. It might have taken her a pair weeks to truly get a SIM card, however as soon as it arrived it did work simply advantageous — it’s T-Cell, in spite of everything. It made me notice that you possibly can, in the event you wished, get Trump Cell protection on a Trump Cell-sold telephone proper now, as long as you don’t thoughts that the {hardware} gained’t have “American fingers behind each system.”
Trump Cell’s on-line retailer presently sells 4 telephones, alongside its $100 deposits for the T1 Telephone. You should purchase a Samsung Galaxy S23 or S24, or Apple’s iPhone 14 or 15. None of those are the most recent fashions — the 2 Samsungs launched in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and the iPhones are even older, from 2022 and 2023. You may as well solely get the bottom fashions of every. And I do imply base — not solely does Trump Cell not promote any of the Plus, Extremely, Professional, or Professional Max variations of those telephones, it doesn’t even promote greater storage SKUs — it’s 128GB or bust. You possibly can’t even choose which colour you purchase, so I hope you want black.
That simplicity makes it fairly simple to test if these telephones are worth or not. Shock, shock, they aren’t.
That iPhone 14 will set you again $489, with the 15 for $629. Apple itself doesn’t even promote the refurbished iPhone 14 any extra, however its 15 goes for $529 — $100 cheaper than Trump prices — and it sells the new 16E for $599. Issues solely worsen in the event you store round. Amazon has the 2 telephones for $305 and $429.99 respectively, Greatest Purchase from $327 and $479.97, and Again Marketplace for $398 or $536 — and that’s for its costliest “Premium” tier of system situation. Up to now I haven’t discovered wherever that sells refurbished iPhones for greater than Trump Cell does, and neither may Roman Loyola at Macworld.
The corporate seems just a little higher for the Galaxy telephones, the place it at the very least undercuts Samsung. At $369 for an S23 and $459 for an S24 from Trump Cell these are markedly cheaper than the iPhones, and higher than Samsung’s personal steep renewed pricing of $519 and $599. Nonetheless, look elsewhere and it’s a well-known story, with the older S23 obtainable for $249 on Amazon, $249 at Greatest Purchase, and $290 at Again Market for one of the best situation obtainable, all cheaper than Trump Cell.
Does Trump Cell give a premium service to match that value? Not clearly. It’s not clear who’s really refurbishing these telephones, nor does the shop web page make any ensures to have used official components in its repairs, although all 4 refurbished telephones are described as having been “dropped at life proper right here within the USA.” There’s no point out of a guaranty, whereas Apple, Samsung, and Again Market all promise a one-year guarantee with their refurbished telephones.
There’s even some attribute sloppiness to the product pages, which use the identical order interface because the T1 Telephone deposits, promising that you could “Be the primary to get your iPhone 14 Renewed” (once more, it is a three-year-old telephone), and that you simply’ll “solely be charged $489.00 as we speak” — the total value of the telephone.
So no, in the event you’re impatiently awaiting your T1 Telephone 8002, you most likely shouldn’t purchase a Trump-refurbished iPhone as an alternative. We’ll all simply have to carry on just a little longer.
As ever, Trump Cell didn’t reply to my request for remark.