Xiaomi Announces Tie-Up With Leica, Xiaomi 12 Ultra May Pack New Camera System

Xiaomi on Monday announced its association with German camera maker Leica. The first imaging flagship smartphone jointly developed 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 joined hands with Swedish photography company Hasselblad for the OnePlus 10 Pro and Oppo Find X5 series smartphones. The Leica-branded camera is rumoured to debut with Xiaomi's upcoming flagship smartphone, Xiaomi 12 Ultra. The smartphone will succeed the Mi 11 Ultra from last year.

Xiaomi via a press release announced its long-term strategic cooperation with Leica to co-develop camera technologies for the company's upcoming flagship smartphone. The Leica-branded Xiaomi smartphone will be introduced in July this year. Xiaomi states that both the companies share the same ideas regarding mobile imaging and are eager to continuously explore the optical performance and photographic experience in the mobile imaging era through extreme technological breakthroughs and aesthetic pursuits. The association will provide a strong boost to Xiaomi's imaging strategy, said Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun.

"During the cooperation, from optical design to tuning aesthetic orientations, the innovative technologies, product philosophies and imaging preferences of both parties have experienced unprecedented in-depth collision and fusion" he added.

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

Leica has earlier associated with players like Sharp, Huawei, and Panasonic.

As mentioned, it is expected that the upcoming flagship-level smartphone with Leica and Xiaomi co-developed camera tech will be the anticipated Xiaomi 12 Ultra. Past rumours have indicated that the upcoming smartphone could be powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, feature 120W fast charging and a 6.6-inch display, sport a 4,860mAh battery, and possibly include a Sony IMX989 sensor.

However, the Chinese smartphone company is yet to confirm any details about the Xiaomi 12 Ultra.

Xiaomi's rivals in space, OnePlus, Vivo and Oppo have also teamed up with known camera manufacturers. Oppo and OnePlus have earlier joined hands with Hasselblad, while Vivo is associated with Zeiss.