LEITZ PHONE 3: LEICA CAMERA AG presents a new smartphone featuring its iconic design with the new Leitz Look and “variable aperture”

On sale exclusively in Japan starting April 2024.

Leica Camera AG introduces the Leitz Phone 3 today. The third-generation smartphone from the renowned camera manufacturer features enhanced camera features as well as additional, unique functionality with the new Leitz Looks and a “variable aperture”. With this expertly crafted smartphone, Leica Camera AG adds another chapter in the company’s over 100-year history and continues its commitment to the highest degree of technical innovation. The Leitz Phone 3 will be available exclusively in Japan starting 19 April.

New iconic design
The Leica brand is inextricably linked with photography and quality. Over the last century, it has established a unique connection between the user and camera. Based on this legacy, continuous improvements have been undertaken to align the Leitz Phone series more thoroughly with the Leica brand.

Inspired by the iconic Leica cameras, the housing of the new model exemplifies Leica’s passion for concentrating on the essentials through a uniquely functional design. The back has a premium polyacrylic texture, giving the user the feeling of holding a high-quality Leica camera in their hands.

The device’s iconic design is also mirrored in the user interface and experience. The widgets have been rearranged, making the entire layout even clearer and more user friendly. This means the signature Leica features like the Golden Hour and LFI widgets are even easier to find and use.

The Golden Hour widget, which was developed exclusively for Leitz Phones, alerts the user to the hour before sunset and after sunrise. Light is particularly warm and perfectly suited to spectacular photos at this time. The LFI widget, which was also developed exclusively for Leitz Phones, continuously presents images from the Leica Fotografie International Gallery – the curated platform for Leica photographers worldwide.

Capture the moment like a pro
The centrepiece of the Leitz Phone 3 is the rear camera system, which has a wide-angle lens with an effective resolution of 47.2 megapixels (MP) and a 1-inch CMOS image sensor. With Octa Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) for quick and precise focusing, impressive photos can be taken even under difficult conditions. The front camera has 12.6 MP and a large field of view of 78°. With an impressive aperture of f/2.3, it is ideal for selfies and video calls.

Professional pictures with “Leica Perspective Control”
With the “Leica Perspective Control”, a software feature that has only been available in Leica cameras until now, has been integrated into a smartphone for the first time. It corrects the perspective of vertical falling lines, especially in architectural photography. A gyroscope measures the angle at which the camera is held while taking the picture and an algorithm then calculates the correction. The corrected image is shown by means of a white rectangle with the new image frame. Professionals should note, however, that the correction is only made in the JPG file. The Digital Negative Format (DNG) remains unchanged.

The Leitz Phone 3 features a sleek and compact design, which is particularly user friendly. Weighing in at only 209 g, it achieves a perfect balance between form and function.

The powerful Qualcomm[1] Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 chipset is the beating heart of the Leitz Phone 3. Its high performance enables efficient multitasking and a smooth user experience.

Another distinguishing feature of the Leitz Phone 3 is the robust battery with 5000 mAh, which powers the phone through a full day of work and play, with the additional option to wirelessly charge.

The new Leitz Looks and Leica Tones
A “variable aperture” for the Leitz Looks camera mode is another new feature. This simulates various aperture stops of the most popular Leica lenses: Noctilux-M 1:1.2/50 mm, Summilux-M 1:1.4/28 mm and Summilux-M 1:1.4/35 mm. The bokeh effect of photos can be controlled with this exclusive software feature by selecting an aperture stop between f/1.2 or f/1.4 to f/8. With a total of six or seven aperture stops, depending on the lens, this feature offers a unique level of creative control in photography.

This allows the user to simulate physical effects from each of the three Leica lenses from the iconic M-System, resulting in breathtaking pictures.

User can discover an entire world of new artistic possibilities for mobile photography with bokeh, vignetting and spotlight rendering, available only in the Leitz Phone 3.

With the Leitz Phone 3, the image quality in the Leitz Looks camera mode has also been significantly enhanced:

• Improved depiction of spotlights in form and colour for realistic light effects.

• Refined object segmentation for precise and impressive composition.

• Improved Leica colour simulation data to capture the essence of the legendary Leica colour expertise.

The Leitz Phone 3 comes with the new ‘Vivid’ and ‘Enhanced’ Leica Tones. ‘Vivid’ creates lively, dynamic colours and ‘Enhanced’ increases contrast and lightens shadows. These have been added to the three existing tones – ‘Monochrom’, ‘Cinema Classic’ and ‘Cinema Contemporary’ – which were all developed exclusively for the Leitz Phone.

New watermark improves branding
A new watermark adds a professional attribute to photographs by showing important camera parameters, such as aperture, ISO, shutter speed, focal length and the LEITZ logo. The device also keeps its promise of quality with respect to durability and upholds the protection classes IPX5/8 and IP6X as well as being water and dust resistant. This ensures that it can withstand a variety of environments, so that your memories can be captured no matter what the conditions.

The Leitz Phone 3 features a Pro IGZO OLED display with a refresh rate of 240 Hz. The 6.6-inch display has a resolution of WUXGA+ (2730x1260) and shows pictures in vivid colours and with deep contrast. With a maximum brightness of 2000 nits and density of 480 dpi, images are clearly visible regardless of the lighting conditions.

The Leitz Phone 3 offers enough room for apps, photos and videos with its over 512 GB of lightning fast UFS 4.0 memory as well as up to 1 TB of memory extension via microSDXC and UHS-I support. The ample 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM also ensures a smooth user experience.

[1] Qualcomm and Snapdragon are registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated