As it turned out, the rumours were true. A strategic partnership between Xiaomi and Leica has just been announced, and the first imaging flagship smartphone developed in conjunction by the two companies will be released in July of this year. Because rumours about a Xiaomi-Leica partnership were accurate, we’re inclined to believe the device in question is the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, but we’ll have to wait and see.
You may already be aware that this isn’t Leica’s first foray into mobile photography. Until now, Leica’s best-known and most fruitful collaboration has been with Huawei, but the latter is still subject to a number of US government bans, so Leica has reason to explore other options.
“Xiaomi and Leica share the same ideas regarding mobile imaging,” according to their joint press release, and they’re both eager to take mobile photography to the next level. Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, recently stated the following: “Xiaomi has always sought to push the boundaries of smartphone photography to the limit, and this is reflected in the company’s focus on user experience. “Microsoft and Leica have a mutual respect for each other’s pursuits and ideas,” as well as a desire to “tune aesthetic orientations.” “It’s true.
It is an honour to announce a long-term strategic partnership with Xiaomi, and Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG, spoke of a “unprecedented deep cooperation process.” He added that Leica and Xiaomi are “convinced that the first jointly developed imaging flagship smartphone makes the pioneering progress of both companies visible.” “Excellent image quality, classic Leica aesthetics, and unrestricted creativity” are the promises he makes.
Only time will tell if this is a one-way street or a two-way street, with one end of the scale essentially just incorporating the camera company’s name and some filters into the camera app, and the other end would be co-developed hardware and software. To test this theory, let’s see if Leica does the same thing with Xiaomi. As soon as July arrives, I can’t wait any longer.