UPDATE (8/3): Do you doubt the RED Hydrogen One is real? In an effort to squash those doubts, the company gave YouTube star Marques Brownlee an exclusive hands on with prototypes of the handset.

In a video, Brownlee shows off a so-called "fit and finished" materials prototype, which he said is exactly what RED intends the final product to look like.

Brownlee, turning the fit and finished prototype over in his hand, says its "part rugged, part modern" aesthetic "looks kind of like a Moto Z had a baby with a tractor." The back features metal and Kevlar materials, plus what looks like a red "jewel" in the center and a large camera bump on the back. There are pins at the bottom of the back side where users will be able to "snap on mods that add to the functionality of the phone," Brownlee says.

The sides feature grippy notches with a flat power button on the right that doubles as a fingerprint reader and volume buttons on the left. The phone also features a dedicated video-record button, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack. On the front, there are visible speakers above and below the handset's 5.5-inch display.

Brownlee also got a look at a separate prototype with a working holographic display. While he wasn't allowed to show it on camera, the YouTuber says he was "pretty impressed," though it "had some quirks like light bleeding on the outside of the display."

RED, Brownlee says, believes this handset "can and will be the future of small form-factor cinema."

The company expects to have a prototype with the finished design and holographic display in the same body within 30 to 45 days, he added.

Original Story (7/6):

RED, a company best known for making video cameras used on Hollywood film sets, unveiled a $1,195 smartphone on Thursday that it says is the world's first with a holographic display.

Called the Hydrogen One, it's an unlocked Android smartphone with a 5.7-inch screen that can switch between displaying conventional 2D content and what Red describes as holographic "multi-view" content, from interactive games to virtual reality apps.

For professional videographers, RED eventually plans to integrate the Hydrogen One into its existing camera lineup, so that it can be used as an interface and a monitor at a shooting location in the field. The Hydrogen One will connect to future Hydrogen-compatible attachments for shooting high-quality motion and still images.

But if you just want to buy the phone as a curiosity to display holograms, it will come preloaded with the Red Channel interface, a selection of holographic content that includes movies and games in the .h4v file format. Red Channel will also let you upload your own .h4v files.

The audio is a step above what you'd expect from an ordinary smartphone, too. The Hydrogen One's custom Android operating system includes algorithms that can translate stereo audio signals into 5.1-channel audio. "The difference this makes would be enough to justify the entire system," reads the Hydrogen One fact sheet.

And you will need to do a lot of justifying if you're considering a Hydrogen One as an impulse buy. The entry-level model, with an aluminum back, will cost $1,195. You can also opt for a $1,595 titanium model. Both are available now for pre-orders and expected to ship in the first quarter of 2018.