Xiaomi and Leica have officially confirmed a partnership, working together on mobile imaging. Xiaomi isn't the first company to pair up with Leica - Huawei has used Leica-branding cameras on its phone for some time.
The interesting thing about the Xiaomi and Leica announcement is confirmation that the "first imaging flagship smartphone" developed by the pairing will be launched in July.
There's been no shortage of rumours surrounding the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, so it's likely that that's the phone that will be announced.
Little more is said about the deal, but we've seen the likes of Zeiss and Hasselblad appearing on other brand devices in recent years, in what often looks like an attempt to boost the credentials of the phone manufacturer and add some "heritage" to the claims.
Xiaomi and @leica_camera have officially reached a global strategic partnership in mobile imaging.
â€" Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) May 23, 2022
Combining the legendary image and innovative technology, let's look forward to a new era of mobile photography in July! pic.twitter.com/GyFut9ZTlg
While both sides will say they work together on the solution, it's often difficult to see what the results are: for the Huawei relationship, for example, the addition of a mono lens was likened to Leica's classic film cameras; with Zeiss and Vivo we've seen the evolution of a number of Zeiss filters and effects.
But ultimately, these pairings don't feel like they pursue photographic brilliance, instead they feel more like a marketing exercise.
More and more, the talk of AI and computational photography leaves us feeling that a hundred years of prowess with optical imaging doesn't immediately translate into great cameras on a smartphone.
We're prepared to be proved wrong - in fact we'd be delighted if this partnership produces the best camera phone on the market - but we don't think it will.
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