Though we’ve heard rumblings around Xiaomi partnering with the German camera equipment maker Leica to fine-tune its camera module. Now there are more hints at the possible collaboration between both the brands.
According to the report, references to Leica were spotted in the source code of a Chinese MIUI Gallery Editor app. These code snippets hint at the filters like Leica Monochrom, Leica Monochrom High Contrast, Leica Natural, Leica Vivid and more that can be used to edit images or videos using the app in question.
The blog that first reported this has been taken down now. However, this discovery is enough to hint that Xiaomi’s phone in collaboration with Leica could be launched soon.
There have been reports about a camera-centric Xiaomi 12 Ultra smartphone that’s been in the making for some time. This phone is said to come with a massive camera module and is said to be the phone that has a camera setup co-developed with Leica.
Though there were contradictory reports suggesting that the phone is indeed being developed, however, it might launch with a different moniker altogether.
As of now, neither Xiaomi nor Leica have confirmed nor refuted these rumours, hence we can definitely see the latest report as yet another hint at the partnership.
In the past, Leica has had a long association with Huawei which resulted in multiple phones with Leica’s signature Monochrome mode. However, Xiaomi might’ve grabbed the opportunity to partner with Leica after Huawei’s market was limited to China due to the ban by the US government.
We also came across a Leica Leitz Phone 1 as well which is basically a Sharp Aquos R6 but with the camera module tuned by Leica. However, the phone is limited to Japan which means that it is out of bounds for almost everyone.
Not the first such collaboration
As we mentioned, Huawei has had a long-standing relationship with Leica, similarly, Nokia has worked with Zeiss for a very long time.
We recently saw the modern take on these collaborations when OnePlus partnered with Hasselblad, Realme with Kodak, Vivo with Zeiss and most recently, Oppo and Hasselblad.
Hence, Xiaomi partnering with Leica shouldn’t be a surprise. In fact, we’re hoping that if the budget and affordable premium devices from the company would also get benefitted then it could give another strong reason for people to buy a Xiaomi phone.
