Well, this one is interesting. It seems that Leica is looking to join in on the smartphone camera party. More pictures are taken every year by smartphones than any other camera category. Zeiss has been involved in the area for some time now, designing lenses for Nokia smartphone cameras. This move looks like a great opportunity to gain brand recognition from everyday camera phone photographers and bring in additional revenue to fund larger R&D efforts. You know, for real cameras.
Here is the full press release:
HUAWEI and Leica Camera announce long-term technology partnership for the reinvention of smartphone photography
Leaders in the smartphone and photographic worlds come together to create a premium visual world renaissance
[Wetzlar, 25th February, 2016] Today HUAWEI Consumer Business Group (BG) and Leica Camera AG are delighted to announce the start of a strategic partnership, a co-operation with shared premium ambitions and spirit, which will see both technology and photography brands combining their shared ethos in a long-term commitment to the art of craftsmanship, meticulous engineering and the spirit of winning collaboration, to create a powerhouse in the reinvention of smartphone photography.
In 2012, HUAWEI became the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer and was the first Chinese company to sell more than 100 million mobile phones in one year in 2015. The first Chinese brand to appear on the prestigious Interbrand Best Global Brands list in 2014, HUAWEI soared to number 88 in 2015 whilst launching the globally critically acclaimed HUAWEI Watch and HUAWEI P8. In 2016, HUAWEI looks to build on its success with Leica Camera: a mutually beneficial collaboration with the most iconic name in the photographic world to bring joint superior excellence to consumers.
For over 100 years, premium iconic camera manufacturer Leica Camera has been creating lightweight cameras favoured by street photographer pioneers and world-class optical lenses, fulfilling the passions of its community. With ingenious optical engineering and formidable craftsmanship, Leica cameras, recognisable by their ‘red dot’ branding, are German engineering at its best, and continue to attract new generations of consumers who aspire to achieve “the Leica look” and own these masterpieces of design. In addition to making precision-crafted masterpieces, Leica supports prominent photographers and emerging new talent around the world.
Richard Yu, CEO of the HUAWEI Consumer BG said: “We choose our partners carefully, and with this extraordinary collaboration we are offering our wide customer base and consumers the best elements of two expert brands in harmony: combining innovation and design, enhancing the user experience and continuing to inspire amazing advancement in human technology through exceptional premium imaging quality. Leica is a legend in the world of photography; we believe no other manufacturer has revolutionised the industry as much as them. We, HUAWEI, take the utmost pride in exceptional quality and Leica is in a class of its own in its sector.”
Oliver Kaltner, CEO of Leica Camera AG said: “The strategic alliance between HUAWEI and Leica Camera demonstrates the desire of two rapidly growing and globally active brands to continuously push the envelope of the technologically possible. In addition to innovative strength and premium standards, our two companies are united by the commitment to uncompromising quality. The technology partnership with HUAWEI offers Leica Camera an excellent opportunity to introduce its proven optical expertise into a new product segment and to unlock exciting business areas in the field of mobile devices. Smartphones make a very important contribution to the world of photography and open an important door for Leica to new target groups and fields of application.”
“The legendary status of the Leica brand is founded on a long tradition of innovation, highest precision and craftsmanship. I’m pleased and convinced that the traditional German medium-sized company Leica Camera will bring its values and comprehensive expertise in optical engineering to the long-term partnership with HUAWEI in order to achieve the best possible imaging results in the field of smartphone photography – and to take it to the next level of quality”, emphasizes Dr Andreas Kaufmann, majority shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board of Leica Camera AG.
More details on the culmination of HUAWEI and Leica’s partnership, which will span research and development, design, co-engineering, user experience, marketing and retail distribution, will be shared as the partnership continues.
It would be cool to see a Leica lens on a smartphone, but first some observations:
While the lenses on the Panasonic-related D-Lux and D-Lux 6 are/were top-notch lenses, the Leica lens on the new $700 Panasonic ZS-100 is not so great. The Leica lenses on the Leica C and related Panasonic LF1 were not very good at all. The tiny LF1 was $500 and the Leica version around $800, so their lenses should have been superb, but weren’t even very good.
Canon makes a pocket superzoom (SX720) whose lens is superb, from 24 mm equiv. to 960 mm – fantastic!
Apple’s iPhone6 lens is incredibly good – limited only by a tiny phone sensor. Clip-on lenses from Olloclip and (soon to be) Zeiss extend the iPhone lens, with excellent quality results.
So, cellphones may benefit from a Leica lens, but only if they are made and implemented extremely well.