The original RED Hydrogen One was a disaster and that’s putting it mildly. Not to be deterred by its failure though, the company today announced that it is working on the Hydrogen Two. What’s more, the promised camera modules that were to launch alongside the Hydrogen One will also launch alongside the new phone.

RED founder Jim Jannard has blamed the failure of the original Hydrogen One on an incompetent Chinese OEM. For the Hydrogen Two, which the company is building from scratch, RED is working with a “new ODM that is clearly more capable of building and supporting the product we demand.”

The CEO also says that getting the original Chinese ODM to fix the issues with the Hydrogen One has proven to be “beyond challenging.”

For the camera module, the RED co-founder says that they have redesigned the original camera module and its new capabilities will “vastly exceed the originally planned module.”

Additionally, we eventually realized that the original camera module would have to change due to the fact our ODM was not going to competently complete the module that they committed and guaranteed to do. Our best option was to modify the program and bring it back into the RED house. We have completed the new and extraordinary sensor and redesigned the package.

To make up for the frustrations of the original Hydrogen One owners, the company will be giving preferential treatment in terms of pricing and delivery for the Hydrogen Two and the camera module.

Our Take

These are some big words from the RED co-founder. However given their poor record with the Hydrogen One, it is better to take them with a pinch of salt. The Hydrogen Two might seem impressive on paper, but this time around, the real test would be if the company is able to ship working and usable units to its customers or not.