Xiaomi, the world’s leading consumer electronics and smart manufacturing company, and Leica Camera, whose legendary reputation is based on a long tradition of excellent quality, innovative technologies, and German craftsmanship, officially announce their strategic cooperation in terms of mobile imaging. The first imaging flagship smartphone jointly developed by the two companies will be officially launched in July this year.

‘Xiaomi focuses on creating the ultimate user experience and has always hoped to explore the capabilities of smartphone photography to the extreme. Xiaomi and Leica agree with each other’s pursuits and ideas and appreciate each other’s advantages and industry. This cooperation will provide a strong boost to Xiaomi’s imaging strategy. 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,’ says Lei Jun, founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi Group.

‘It is an honor to announce the long-term strategic cooperation with Xiaomi today. Leica and Xiaomi are both global premium brands and during this unprecedented deep cooperation process, both parties have successfully worked on the goal of providing customers a new era of mobile photography. 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,’ adds Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG.

Leica’s previous partnerships included a five-year marriage to Huawei, but after the U.S. Government placed a ban on all Huawei phones coming into its market, Leica left that deal in 2021 and recently produced a phone in partnership with Sharp in the Leica branded Leitz Phone 1 and Aquos R6. The Leitz Phone 1 was sold exclusively in Japan under Softbank and was essentially a reconfigured Aquos R6 which featured a 1-inch image sensor and a custom user interface that promised a true Leica experience.

The first phone to feature the partnership will be the Xiaomi 12 Ultra. Centered around the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, rumors say to expect the 12 Ultra to have a 1/1.1-inch 50-megapixel IMX800 main camera with ultra-wide, wide, and periscope zoom lenses.