Xiaomi and Leica could sign a collaboration agreement. That’s what the latest rumors suggest and would aim to develop future cameras for its flagship phones. An interesting move because of what it could mean for this Chinese manufacturer and for another who is currently signing their cameras with the Leica brand well visible: Huawei.
Xiaomi and Leica, next alliance?
In recent years we have seen traditional brands in the world of photography team up with mobile phone manufacturers. An alliance with which some gained prestige and others filled their pockets.
Among all these, some of the most talked-about have been those of OnePlus and Hasselblad, Vivo and Zeiss, or the well-known alliance between Huawei and Leica. And it is the latter that could change shortly according to the latest data that has become known.
According to rumors, everything indicates that Xiaomi would be the brand that could reach an agreement with Leica to develop the next cameras for its mobile phones. And this can be very interesting for them, even more so considering the level they have reached on their own with proposals such as the recent Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, and a small stick for Huawei.
As you may already know, Huawei is not going through its best moment. The prohibition of the United States to do business with its companies has caused the sales and relevance of the brand to fall. Something that we admit is a shame because they had positioned themselves very well, especially on camera issues with proposals as powerful as the latest Huawei from the P or Mate series.
What’s more, today if terminals like the Huawei P30 Pro are still considered one of the Android phones with the best camera. Likewise, the most recent Huawei P40 Pro or Mate 40 and everything seems to indicate that the Huawei P50 Pro will also be a benchmark in this section. Although it could also be the last to carry a camera signed by Leica.
However, all this is not yet confirmed and we will have to wait and see what each of the brands involved says (because other brands like Sharp that could ally with Leica also sound like). If Leica is released, it is true that an alliance with Xiaomi could be very interesting for them due to the popularity of the brand and not be subject to any type of prohibition. And the same for Xiaomi, which would have another argument to continue growing its prestige in the photographic section.
Phone manufacturers and photography brands
The collaborations between manufacturers of mobile phones and cameras of a lifetime are nothing new as we have already commented. Even so, today there are those who see that everything is nothing more than a marketing strategy that really contributes little to the experience or quality of the photos.
It is true that making the user see the work behind it is not easy and many times it may seem that it does not exist, but usually there are always details that corroborate it. For example, in the OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9, Hasselblad’s experience is not in the lenses or sensors themselves but in how the latter has been calibrated to offer that color science so typical of the brand. And that is appreciated with very characteristic tones when you use the camera, mainly in Pro mode and in daylight.
In the case of Leica and Huawei more or less the same, here it was more the black and white processing, which was not a simple reduction of saturation. Although it is true that it is not always easy and you can fall into the idea that everything is empty advertising.
We will see what happens with Xiaomi and if they show that betting on Leica as a partner brings value to them and their users. That it is not just a way to raise the cache of your products and with it the price, if there is a price increase, it may be because the jump in quality is remarkable.