Could the Trump Phone be a good phone?

1 hour ago 21

David Pierce

is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

We have long had our doubts about the Trump Phone. Since its very first debut, the device — technically called the Trump Mobile T1 Phone 8002 — has seemed utterly impossible to execute as advertised. The Trump Mobile team has also spent the last eight months rapidly moving the goalposts, changing specs and making increasingly vague promises about the phone being American-made. We’ve wondered many times if there is even a Trump Phone at all.

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On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk to one of the only people who has seen one. That person is The Verge’s Dominic Preston, who has been covering the Trump Phone for months and who got a virtual look at the device last week. Dom joins the show to tell us about the surprising reveal, what we know now about the phone itself, and whether this thing is actually going to ship.

After that, The Verge’s Hayden Field explains how OpenClaw and Moltbook managed to simultaneously capture so many Silicon Valley AI imaginations. OpenClaw feels like an immediately big deal, a powerful and dangerous way to put AI agents to work with all the access and knowledge they need to be really useful. (And, again, really dangerous.) Moltbook, an ostensibly AI agent-only take on Reddit, seems a little more like a novelty. Still, though, there is something fascinating about watching the bots interact with one another.

Finally, The Verge’s Andy Hawkins helps answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about whether Tesla might be getting out of the car business for good.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:

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