The Leica logo is prominently displayed on the new smartphone from Xiaomi. What is this all about?
Xiaomi introduced their latest flagship mobile phones, the series 13 on February 26 in Barcelona. Besides being a premium cell phone, the Leica camera does create some definite interest.
It is generally considered a replacement for the phones from Huawei, a company Leica was previously affiliated with.
Initially, cameras in mobile phones were considered not much more than an afterthought, but since then, Leica set up its own development department, which exclusively deals with the subject of smartphones.
After the cooperation of Leica and Huawei came to an end, many mobile phone manufacturers were interested in Leica, but most of them just wanted to purchase the rights to the Leica logo. That did not meet the interests of Leica at all. However, the cooperation with Xiaomi is now bringing Leica’s expertise into the development of the camera modules and in the field of image processing. Unfortunately, as a medium-sized company, Leica cannot do more. Leica is too small to produce the quantities that Xiaomi needs.
The Leica logo on any camera does lead to the expectation of outstanding performance and the new Xiaomi phones are no different in this respect. Let’s take a closer look:
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers a resolution of 200 megapixels while the Leica camera in the top Xiaomi phones appears to be limited with ‘only’ 50 megapixels. Is Leica taking a step backwards?
According to Leica, ultra-high resolutions in smartphones are not desirable. The more pixels are put together on the same area, the smaller they need to be. This has the disadvantage that each individual pixel captures a noticeably smaller number of photons with leads to a considerable number of negative effects. For that reason, all three cameras on the back of the Xiaomi 13 Pro have 50 megapixel sensors.
Tests have proven that the image quality of the Xiaomi phones compares very favorably with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is particularly good at alowing to change the depth of field, for instance to separate the subject from the background. The telephoto lens incorporates floating elements which allow to focus substantialoly closer than normal. Algorithms also allow to change the bokeh of the photographs to give photos a specific look.
That requires a lot of computing power which the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 chip in the Xiaomi phones can deliver.
By working with Leica, Xiaomi offers a camera system for the 13 Pro that can compete with the quality of any high-end mobile phone. The high performance and the excellent screen also match this.
However, as with so many things in life, ultimate quality and performance does not come cheap. The projected price of the top Xiaomi phone is 1299 euros.
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