Leica has its own premium smartphone now

In case you've missed the news, camera maker Leica now also has a handset called the Leitz Phone 1. It's a rebranded Sharp Aquos R6 handset, and it looks like it's exclusive to Japan via carrier company SoftBank for JPY 187,920 (around CAD 2,129). Like the Aquos R6, you get a 1-inch, 20-megapixel main camera with a 19mm equivalent focal length, 12.6-megapixel front camera, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 6.67-inch IGZO quad-curved display with a 240Hz variable refresh rate, and 5,000mAh battery. It does get double the internal storage at 256GB, which you can expand.

Its looks will remind you of Leica cameras with the iconic Leica Red Dot and a magnetic circular lens cap dressed in classic Leica silver. Its back panel is made of glass with a matte finish. Leica also supplies a hard case with the Leica Red Dot. As for its interface, it has a primarily monochrome UI that's based on Android 11. If you want to take monochrome photos, this phone also has a Leitz Looks mode in the camera app.

Source: Unbox + Hypebae

Huawei denies termination of its partnership with Leica

There was a rumour going around that the four-year partnership between Huawei and Leica is over. But the Chinese phone maker refutes the story saying it's "absolutely fake news." Android Authority also reached out to Leica, and a representative told them they "have no information about the termination of the partnership."

Digital Chat Station, a prominent leaker on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo, reported that other Chinese smartphone manufacturers are contacting Leica. Their collaboration began in 2016 with the launch of the Huawei P9. Leica has been helping Huawei with everything from image processing to the camera module and UI designs. Every Huawei flagship launched since then have carried the Leica branding.

Leica introduces stylish long-zoom, compact C-Lux camera

Leica adds a bit of style to the long-zoom, compact camera market with the introduction of the new C-Lux camera. What’s essentially a reskinned Panasonic Lumix ZS200, it features a 24-360mm F3.3-6.4 15x zoom lens, a 1-inch, 20.1-megapixel sensor, 49-point autofocus, 10 frames per second continuous shooting, 4K video recording capability (up to 30fps at a max of 100Mbps) with a 15-minute time limit. The C-Lux also comes with a 3-inch touchscreen and a viewfinder with 2.33 million-dot resolution. This camera also has support for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Getting one of these will set you back US$1,050 (around CA$1,380). What will this US$250 markup get you? Two new color options: Light Gold (as seen above) and Midnight Blue.

Source: SlashGear

Huawei and Leica tease P10 and P10 Plus ahead of MWC 2017

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is almost upon us. Ahead of it brands are teasing what they plan to bring to the showroom floor. Without beating around the bush, Huawei and Leica both promote two new co-branded and co-engineered smartphones—the P10 and P10 Plus. The two brands originally collaborated on the P9 and P9 Plus. This was later carried on to the Mate 9. These phones feature dual-camera system with one of the sensors being used exclusively for black and white photography. Having the dual-camera setup also makes it possible to have a DSLR-like shallow depth of field effect on the phones. We should be hearing more about these devices in the next few days.

Source: CNET