Trump Mobile executives have shown off a handset they say is a near-production model of the T1 phone to The Verge, according to a report Friday afternoon. Among other appearance changes, the smartphone appears to have a completely different camera array design than the one still shown on the T1 purchase page.

The Verge says it spoke with two Trump Mobile executives over a video call, where they held up the phone so it could be seen. The interview follows doubts about whether the phone will ever be released, after its second advertised launch date of the end of 2025 came and went without any status updates. 

As of Feb. 6, the phone’s webpage still lists it as being released «later this year,» which is the same thing it said last year.

Trump Mobile launched in June last year with a $47.45-a-month mobile phone plan, and currently sells refurbished Apple and Samsung phones ranging from $369 to $629 while the wait for the T1 phone continues. 

The Trump phone, initially announced to be made in the US, was supposed to launch in August 2025. But when it became clear that domestic large-scale smartphone manufacturing would not be possible, Trump Mobile dropped the «made in the US» claim. 

Now, the site simply calls the phone «Proudly American» without specifying what that means for a device manufactured overseas.

The site is still accepting $100 deposits on the phone. The website claims it will have a 6.25-inch punch-hole AMOLED screen, a 50MP main rear camera with two 2MP lenses, a 16MP front-facing camera, a 5,000-mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor, face unlock and 256GB of expandable storage.

According to the model that The Verge saw on its video call this week, however, the screen looks a little larger and has a waterfall display with curved edges, as well as a vertical camera array. That one will reportedly run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-series processor, feature 512GB of storage, and include a 50MP front-facing camera. According to the report, the T1 logo will also disappear before launch, though the phone will keep the American flag imagery.

It’ll also now cost more, according to the report. Those who have already put down a $100 deposit are locked into the $499 total price, but everyone else who wants this golden Trump phone will pay an unknown amount more. It will be under $1,000, the report says.

According to the executives speaking to The Verge, the phone has been delayed because the company decided to take its time and «skip our first initial entry-level phone that we were going to kind of introduce and be quick to the market.» They told The Verge it’s being made in a «favored nation» with «final assembly» in Florida. It’s unclear what qualifies another nation as «favored» to handle most of the assembly of the T1 phone. 

There’s no word yet on the T1 phone’s launch date, but its sellers are reportedly eyeing a March release window.

You can read the full report on The Verge, including photos of the phone as it currently looks. Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple is scaling back and rethinking its ambitious plans to introduce an AI-powered health coach, according to a Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman citing anonymous sources privy to the company’s plans.

The project, known inside Apple as Mulberry, was first reported last year, with the company expected to roll together health-related AI features as a coach or assistant. But now, Bloomberg reports, that project will be broken down into individual features introduced over time, as it has done with tools such as the sleep apnea and hearing tests added to Apple Watch and Apple AirPods.

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

Bloomberg’s sources point to a change in leadership over Apple’s health technology. Veteran services head Eddy Cue is overseeing those projects and addressing pressure from competitors pushing into the health space, including Oura and Peloton as well as tech giants like Google and OpenAI, which just launched ChatGPT Health.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Apple was also said to have built a studio for a revamped health services app that would have included virtual and video wellness instructions, and integration with existing health tools and Apple devices. It is likely that some of that content and software will still be released publicly, just not in one package, according to Bloomberg.

YouTube may still be where many people instinctively go to watch music videos, but when Taylor Swift dropped her video for Opalite on Friday, it was noticeably absent from the platform. In fact, it won’t be landing on YouTube until Sunday, two days after its release on other streaming platforms.

So, why is the Opalite music video only available on Apple Music and Spotify Premium right now? It likely has to do with a disagreement between YouTube and Billboard, which ranks the most popular songs and albums of the week.

In December, Billboard shifted its charting methodology so paid and subscription-based streams are weighted even more favorably than ad-supported streams. Billboard started weighting paid streams higher than ad-supported ones in 2018. This most recent shift narrows that ratio from 1:3 to 1:2.5, putting numbers from platforms like YouTube at more of a disadvantage.

Following the change, YouTube posted a statement about its dispute with Billboard, calling the charting company’s methodology «an outdated formula.» It added, «This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription…We’re simply asking that every stream is counted fairly and equally, whether it is subscription-based or ad-supported—because every fan matters and every play should count.»

YouTube said that starting Jan. 16, 2026, its data would «no longer be delivered to Billboard or factored into their charts.» 

For artists like Taylor Swift who count on early streams to boost their Billboard rankings, that could make YouTube a less appealing option for debuting new content. So the Opalite video will still be making its way to YouTube, but you’ll have to wait until Sunday, Feb. 8, at 8 a.m. ET to watch it there. Representatives for Swift, YouTube and Billboard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

YouTube has an ad-supported streaming service as well as a paid one called YouTube Premium. However, even YouTube Premium subscribers can’t see the Opalite music video on Friday. (I’m a subscriber and can confirm it’s nowhere to be found.) According to Statista, in March 2025, YouTube had 125 million paid subscribers across its Premium and Music services. (YouTube Music is included in its Premium subscription.) That pales in comparison with the estimated 2.5 billion total users on YouTube, the majority of whom still rely on that ad-supported offering. 

It remains to be seen whether or when YouTube and Billboard will mend their affairs and whether, in the words of Taylor Swift in Opalite, «this is just a temporary speed bump.»