F9 exists in a parallel universe where Red's Hydrogen One was a good phone

WTF?! The now defunct Red Hydrogen One makes a few cameos in the new F9 trailer, and while the phone wasn't a success in this universe, it'll be immortalized in the Fast and Furious universe.

The F9: The Fast Saga trailer has landed, and it resurrects more than just characters from the past. The Fast and Furious movies rife with fantastical improbabilities – including the fact that this is the 9th installment in the franchise. The movies are not exactly known for their accurate portrayal of technology either, despite their often futurist themes. See: Hobbs & Shaw.

I don't want to come down too hard on Vin and the boys here; I tend to enjoy the movies for what they are. It just takes forgiving comically outdated and absurd references such as "hacking the mainframe" and understanding that most problems can be solved with car chases and explosions.

Case in point: in the trailer, the disappointing Red Hydrogen One phone is the handset of choice for multiple characters, as it adorns the dashboards of their cars. You see, in the F9 universe, Red never abandoned the phone business and the Hydrogen One wasn't an overpriced critical failure. Cue car chase.

In one of the scenes, the Hydrogen One can be briefly seen displaying a radar or GPS system, which is always nice to have when you need to defy the laws of physics and gravity with Dodge Chargers and rocket-powered Pontiac Fieros. I don't recall that being a feature shipped with the phone, but perhaps one of the promised add-on modules that never materialized could've added it.

In all seriousness, it isn't far fetched to imagine that those in the movie industry would have a natural proclivity to work with a phone made by Red, as these are the same people that are already using Red's high-end cameras. No doubt, filming took place before the phone's untimely demise, trapping the Red Hydrogen One in time and leaving us to wonder what could've been.

F9 will arrive to theaters later this year on May 22nd. It's presently undetermined if the Red Hydrogen One will reprise its role for the sequel in 2021.