A surprise announcement by Softbank in Japan indicates that Leica is determined to expand its position in the smartphone market. The Leitz Phone 1 ups the stakes with a massive 22 MP one-inch sensor and an f/1.9 Summicron lens. For the time being, the new smartphone is exclusive to Softbank, and there are no indications that the device might appear in other markets.
According to Engadget, “the Leitz Phone 1 is a rebadged Sharp Aquos R6 but offers a ‘true Leica experience’ down to the level of industrial design and user interface”.
The new smartphone mimics Leica camera design and sports the familiar red dot and even a circular magnetic lens cap bearing the Leitz logo familiar to an earlier generation of photographers.
The Leitz Phone 1 runs on Android 11 but features a “largely monochrome” user interface customised by Leica.
At the moment, according to reports, the Leitz Phone is exclusive to Softbank in Japan and will sell for the equivalent of £1,200 ($1,700).
The use of the Leitz brand is interesting. As I understand, Leica’s Dr Kauffmann bought back the rights to the Leitz brand a couple of years ago. Perhaps we will see more products bearing the original company name. Lenses, for instance were branded as Leitz long after the Leica brand was applied to the camera bodies.
Here is a machine-translated version of the Japanese press release.
Will you buy a Leitz Phone if it becomes available in your market? Would you abandon your Apple ecosystem for the prestige of a Leitz-branded phone?
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“…. Lenses, for instance were branded as Leitz long after the Leica brand was applied to the camera bodies.”
Actually LEICA means LEItz CAmera, so it was right to take back what the Swiss of Wild, when they acquired the Ernst Leitz company in Wetzlar, made disappear for perfidious interests, the famous name “Leitz” which had invented the 24×36 photographic format. Today with digital it seems to have no importance, even if the sensors for the “full frame” have that historical dimension; 24×36. The medium and large format have larger sensors, but this, as Kipling would say, is another story.
Furthermore, Leitz, in its factory in Midland, Ontario, Canada, now owned by Raytheon, was able to produce extraordinary lenses for the US Navy, such as the 90 f/1 Elcan or APO 180 f/3.4 Elcan (… Ernst Leitz CANada), or the “civilian ” 50 f/1 Leitz Noctilux.
Having said that, the return of the Leitz logo, used for example for special optics intended for cinema, is a welcome return, beyond the stupid market moves such as the Leitz phone, soon swallowed up in the meat grinder of commercial garbage.
Regards
I like the sound of a one inch sensor and a summicron lens, but I am totally happy with my iPhone 12 mini – moreso than the Huawei my granddaughter got me to buy!
Another brain fart from Leica. Destined to go into the “weird stuff we did when we were bored” cupboard in Wetzlar to join the Leica watch.
I’m with other readers for professional reasons – nothing else than an iPhone will do for integration, security, and personal protection.
In my prior pre-retiremnt life I did electronic hardware and embedded software design. My customers were clear- no android anywhere, nothing miracast enabled, and absolutely no PnP (totally open). When I needed Windows (rare), I ran it in a virtualizer on a Mac (unix). Any sign of vermin and I would flush the image and start over. I do use a iPhone. Like SlowDriver, I realize Apple and reality have some limits, but at least apps on the Apple store have some level of curation. I fought too many battle over the years to go down those roads again. Besides, I only have weather apps and The Phographers Ephemeris (TPE). Really, what else do I need 😉
But I get it- if you are OK with Android and or Windows, I have zero problem with that. I just want to take pictures.
I’m very excited about this and hope it makes it to other markets beyond Japan. I owned the Panasonic CM1 (https://www.panasonic.com/uk/support/discontinued-products/cameras-camcorders/dmc-cm1.html) which was a similar concept from a 2015 that also featured a 1-inch sensor and Leica lens (albeit f/2.8 28mm equivalent one). It lacked some features (notably stabilization) but more than made up for those by offering a connected photography experience – back up to Google Photos/Lightroom/Dropbox, on the go editing, sharing (social or otherwise), which obviously the Leitz 1 will also offer.
Dr. Kaufmann spoke about his ambition to make a Leica branded smartphone in a 2019 interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b7AQtSbI0U) and great to see it come to fruition.
I’m not “into” phones, smart or otherwise, either for communication or for taking photos, and this is only of passing interest to me. However, I do hope that Leica don’t ditch or downgrade any single part of their “proper” camera business, including things like an upgrade to the CL, in favour of doing more with telephones; even ones with red dots and cameras inside them.
No Android devices for me. Although I do not particularly trust Apple I still have a much higher comfort level with them than with Google:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/android-sends-20x-more-data-to-google-than-ios-sends-to-apple-study-says/
For photography, there are several Android phones that are very worthy of consideration, notably the Google Pixel, Huawei P Series and Samsung Galaxy S series. My personal phone of choice is the Pixel, which is really great for smartphone based photography and just in general a great phone (owning to the straightforward implementation of Android).
To your point around data collection, unlike iOS devices it’s possible to use Android devices in a logged out state (i.e. without signing into Google) – in the case of Huawei devices, this is the only option and you don’t need to sign into a Huawei account either.
Apps can be installed by using a 3rd party app marketplace (like APK pure) and you can sign into those apps at an individual account level (i.e. Adobe account for Lightroom, etc.)
I follow Michael Bazzell. He is an ex-FBI agent (Cyber Crimes Task Force), was a technical advisor for the first season of Mr Robot and now (besides writing brooks) advises individual clients (eg. victims of domestic abuse) on how to stay anonymous on the Internet. He is very clear. He believes the privacy and security of an iPhone is superior to any stock Android device. He advises an iPhone to all of his customers. Most articles that I read about security and privacy seem to confirm that. As I mentioned I do not trust Apple either but I probably still do trust them a bit more than Google…