Xiaomi announces connection with Leica, Xiaomi 12 Ultra May packs new camera system

Xiaomi announced on Monday its relationship with German camera maker Leica. The first flagship imaging smartphone, developed jointly by Xiaomi and Leica, will be officially unveiled in July this year. Leica has previously partnered with Huawei, Panasonic and Sharp. Earlier, OnePlus and Oppo teamed up with Swedish photography company Hasselblad for the OnePlus 10 Pro and Oppo Find X5 smartphones. It is rumored that the Leica camera will debut with Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi 12 Ultra. The smartphone will inherit the Mi 11 Ultra from last year.

In a press release, Xiaomi announced its long-term strategic partnership with Leica to jointly develop camera technologies for the company’s upcoming flagship smartphone. The Xiaomi smartphone with the Leica brand will be presented in July this year. Xiaomi says both companies share the same ideas about mobile imaging and are eager to continually explore the optical features and photographic experience of the mobile imaging era through extreme technological breakthroughs and aesthetic pursuits. The association will provide a strong impetus to Xiaomi’s imaging strategy, said Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun.

“During the collaboration, from optical design to aesthetic orientation tuning, innovative technologies, product philosophy and image preferences on both sides have undergone an unprecedented in-depth confrontation and merger,” he added.

“We are convinced that the first jointly developed flagship imaging smartphone makes visible the pioneering progress of the two companies. We will provide consumers in the field of mobile photography with exceptional image quality, classic Leica aesthetics, unlimited creativity and open a new era in mobile imaging, “said Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG.

Leica has previously associated with players such as Sharp, Huawei and Panasonic.

As mentioned, the upcoming flagship smartphone with camera technology, developed jointly with Leica and Xiaomi, is expected to be the expected Xiaomi 12 Ultra. Past rumors have suggested that the upcoming smartphone may be powered by the latest flagship chipset of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, has a 120W fast charge and 6.6-inch display, has a 4860mAh battery and probably includes a Sony IMX989 sensor.

However, the Chinese smartphone company has not yet confirmed details about the Xiaomi 12 Ultra.

Xiaomi’s rivals in space, OnePlus, Vivo and Oppo, have also teamed up with well-known camera manufacturers. Oppo and OnePlus previously joined Hasselblad, while Vivo linked up with Zeiss.