Trump Mobile’s refurbished iPhones are an unsurprisingly bad deal

It is well established that Trump’s phone does not exist. But that’s not the only phone Trump Mobile sells. It also offers a range of refurbished Apple and Samsung phones that you can purchase now. You really shouldn’t.

I was relieved to read Alison’s coverage over the past two weeks to discover that this is not the case Everything About Trump Mobile is a scam. It may have taken a few weeks to get the SIM card, but once it arrived it worked fine — it is T-Mobile, after all. It made me realize that you can, if you want, get Trump Mobile coverage on a phone sold by Trump Mobile now, as long as you don’t mind that the devices won’t have “American hands behind every device.”

Trump Mobile’s online store is currently selling four phones, along with a $100 deposit for the T1 Phone. You can buy a Samsung Galaxy S23 or S24, or an iPhone 14 or 15 from Apple. None of these models are the latest – the Samsung phones were launched in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and the iPhones are even older, from 2022 and 2023. You can also get just the base models of each. And I mean the rule – not only does Trump Mobile not sell any of the Plus, Ultra, Pro, or Pro Max versions of these phones, they don’t even sell SKUs with higher storage capacity – 128GB or not. You can’t even choose what color to buy, so I hope you like black.

This simplicity makes it very easy to check whether these phones are a good value or not. Surprise, surprise, they’re not.

This iPhone 14 will cost you $489, with the 15 for $629. Apple itself isn’t selling the refurbished iPhone 14 anymore, but its iPhone 15 will retail for $529 — $100 cheaper than Trump’s tariff — and it’s selling the new 16E for $599. Things only get worse if you shop around. Amazon has the phones at $305 and $429.99 respectively, Best Buy at $327 and $479.97, and Back market at $398 or $536 — and that’s for the most expensive category of “premium” devices. So far I have not found anywhere Which sells refurbished iPhones at higher prices than Trump Mobile, and Roman Loyola can’t Macworld.

The company looks a little better for Galaxy phones, as it at least undercuts Samsung. At $369 for the S23 and $459 for the S24 from Trump Mobile, these are noticeably cheaper than the iPhones, and better than Samsung’s steep renewed prices of $519 and $599. However, look elsewhere and you’ll find it’s a familiar story, with the older S23 available for $249 on Amazon, $249 at Best Buy, and $290 at Back Market for the best case available, all of which are cheaper than Trump Mobile.

Does Trump Mobile offer premium service that matches this price? It is not clear. It’s not clear who actually refurbishes these phones, and the store’s page offers no guarantees that official parts are used in their repairs, though all four refurbished phones are described as “resurrected here in the USA.” There is no mention of a warranty, while Apple, Samsung and Back Market all promise a one-year warranty with their refurbished phones.

There’s even some distinct confusion on the product pages, which use the same ordering interface as the T1’s deposits, promising that you can “be the first to get your iPhone 14 refurbished” (again, this is a three-year-old phone), and that “you’ll only be charged $489.00 today” — the full price of the phone.

So, no, if you’ve been anxiously awaiting your T1 Phone 8002, you probably won’t buy a Trump-restored iPhone instead. We’ll all have to hang on a little longer.

As always, Trump Mobile did not respond to my request for comment.