Xiaomi partners with Leica; Xiaomi 12 Ultra may get a new camera system

Xiaomi announced its partnership with Leica, a German camera manufacturer. The first imaging flagship smartphone produced in collaboration between Xiaomi and Leica will be released in July.

Huawei, Panasonic, and Sharp have all previously cooperated with Leica. OnePlus and Oppo previously collaborated with Hasselblad, a Swedish photography business, on the OnePlus 10 Pro and Oppo Find X5 series smartphones.

Xiaomi’s future flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, is said to have a Leica-branded camera. The smartphone will succeed last year’s Mi 11 Ultra.

Xiaomi announced a long-term strategic partnership with Leica to co-develop photography technology for the company’s forthcoming flagship smartphone in a press release.

The Xiaomi smartphone with the Leica logo will be released in July. Both firms, according to Xiaomi, have similar ideas about mobile imaging and are enthusiastic about continuing to explore the optical performance and photographic experience in the mobile imaging era via extreme technical advancements and artistic aspirations. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun believes the partnership will help the company’s image strategy.

“From optical design to aesthetic orientation tuning, both sides’ breakthrough technologies, product philosophies, and imaging preferences have seen unprecedented in-depth collision and fusion throughout the partnership,” he said.

“We are certain that the first collaboratively built imaging flagship smartphone demonstrates both firms’ pioneering development. We will offer mobile photography users great picture quality, traditional Leica aesthetics, and unconstrained creativity, ushering in a new era of mobile imaging “Leica Camera AG CEO Matthias Harsch said.

Sharp, Huawei, and Panasonic have all previously partnered with Leica.

The Xiaomi 12 Ultra is projected to be the next flagship smartphone integrating Leica and Xiaomi co-developed camera technology. According to previous rumours, the forthcoming smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm’s newest flagship chipset Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, including 120W fast charging, a 6.6-inch display, a 4,860mAh battery, and maybe a Sony IMX989 sensor.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, has yet to reveal any specifics regarding the Xiaomi 12 Ultra.

OnePlus, Vivo, and Oppo, Xiaomi’s space competitors, have all partnered with well-known camera suppliers. Oppo and OnePlus formerly partnered with Hasselblad, while Vivo has a relationship with Zeiss.