How Leica and Xiaomi balance tradition and technology
The legendary German camera maker had a 'tough discussion' with the Chinese tech giant
For the last few years, my favorite compact cameras haven’t been traditional cameras at all; instead, they’ve been smartphones produced by the Chinese tech giant Xiaomi. Part of that is because of the company’s work on cutting-edge mobile hardware, but a huge factor is its collaboration with legendary German camera maker Leica.
In a world of overprocessed, HDR-heavy smartphone photos, Leica contributes realistic, tasteful color science to Xiaomi devices. While all smartphones need to operate in accordance with the laws of physics, the phones that Leica and Xiaomi have been working on together take photos that really don’t look like they came from a phone.
Most recently in Vienna, Xiaomi announced the latest in its line of collaborative Leica-branded phones, the 17T and 17T Pro. I was able to speak to representatives from Leica about the philosophy and technology behind its collaboration with Xiaomi.
