Though we’ve been hearing rumors about Xiaomi partnering up with the German camera maker Leica to fine-tune its cameras, recent reports suggest that these rumors might just be true.
References to Leica were identified in the source code of a Gallery Editor app built into Xiaomi’s Chinese MIUI ROM. These code strings refer to filters that can be used when editing photos and videos, some of which include Leica Monochrom, Leica Monochrom High Contrast, Leica Natural, Leica Vivid, and more.
Although the blog that first reported this has been taken down, this discovery reveals that we should be expecting to see some Leica-branded filters marketed by Xiaomi besides the branding.
We’ve been hearing about Xiaomi making its best smartphone yet, with camera-centric features never seen on its other phones. This upcoming smartphone is expected to house a massive camera module and might just be co-developed with Leica.
Before this, Huawei was in a long-standing relationship with the German brand. Similarly, Nokia has also worked with Zeiss for a very long time. Additionally, we recently witnessed a modern take on these collaborations when OnePlus partnered with Hasselblad, Realme with Kodak, Vivo with Zeiss, and most recently, Oppo and Hasselblad.
Hence, Xiaomi partnering with Leica isn’t anything unique. In fact, speculations suggest that if the budget and affordable premium devices from the company also benefit from this partnership then it could further increase the company’s user base.