Following the announcement of the Xiaomi-Leica partnership, Huawei has confirmed its partnership with Leica came to an end. The US-sanctioned Chinese smartphone giant, Huawei wrote in an email reply confirming the breakup.
The Chinese smartphone maker, Huawei answered an email asking about the relationship with Leica, reported Android Authority. “We can confirm that the cooperation between our two companies ended on 31 March,” the company’s representative wrote without any ifs and buts.
It’s only a couple of hours since Xiaomi and Leica announced their partnership. They also revealed that Xiaomi will be launching a collaborative imaging flagship phone in July this year. Of course, this occurred to think about the existing partnership of Leica with Huawei. It was in rumours to have an end but the folks at Android Authority didn’t stay back and reached out to Huawei.
Considering the development, we can assume that the Huawei P50 series is the last one to carry a Leica camera. So we may think the company’s next smartphone Mate 50 will not carry a camera branding.
There is no doubt the partnership between the two companies was among the best camera-mobile relationships we have ever seen. Huawei and Leica started working together back in 2016 for the Huawei P9 series. The collaborative effort brought up improvements in mobile cameras. Not only hardware contribution by Leica, both the companies worked together for image tuning, colour modes and especially the portraits.
It’s worth noting there that the end of this partnership is one of many other losses Huawei had after the trade ban by the US. But it’s also true that Huawei didn’t lose on its capability of providing top-notch hardware and camera features. Android Authority also has put up a poll asking the audience what they think about the past partnership between Leica and Huawei. At the time of writing, 70% believe it was a success.
