Leica Camera AG is strengthening its Mobile Business segment through the takeover of the smartphone photography startup Fjorden Electra AS. With ‘Leica LUX’, the company presents the first jointly developed iPhone photo app for professional mobile photography.
In the course of its strategic growth strategy, Leica Camera AG is strengthening its Mobile Business segment and is further expanding its portfolio through the takeover of the Norwegian company Fjorden Electra AS, a developer of smartphone apps and accessories. From today, Leica LUX, the first photo app developed for the iPhone within the framework of the takeover, is available as a download in the App Store. Leica LUX enables iPhone users to immerse themselves in the world of Leica photography and lenses and create the iconic Leica Looks with their unmistakeable photographic aesthetics for the first time with an iPhone.
Through the takeover, Leica Camera AG expands its portfolio for professional mobile phone photography and opens up a further important business segment in the mobile sector. Together with the Xiaomi partnership and the current Xiaomi 14 series with Leica optics and the company’s own Leitz Phone, now available in its third generation in Japan, the Leica LUX photo app represents the third pillar of the powers of technical innovation in the Mobile Business segment and underlines the strategic importance of this segment for the successful further development of the company.
At the beginning of 2023, the German premium manufacturer already worked with the Norwegian company Fjorden Electra AS within the framework of a technological partnership. The business models of both companies ideally complement one another: Fjorden Electra AS brings extensive know-how in the development of iOS camera apps and iPhone accessories, while the Leica Mobile Imaging development team contributes its expertise in the areas of image processing and imaging quality. In this collaboration, both teams established an important basis for the further development of professional camera apps for high-quality photography with mobile phones.
Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG: ‘With the takeover of Fjorden we have united the expertise of two drivers of technological innovation and have expanded our already strong mobile imaging development team by the integration of proven specialists and digital know-how. We have expanded our digital ecosystem in the Camera, Mobile and Optical segments with a product range that above all addresses younger target groups and enables them to take their first steps on their journey to the world of Leica products. Our first jointly-developed camera app, ‘Leica LUX’ brings the Leica experience and the unmistakeable visual signature to the iPhone.’
Dr Victor Henning, founder and CEO of Fjorden Electra AS, adds: ‘Our vision was to bring more joy and professionalism to mobile phone photography. The iconic Leica cameras were role models in our development processes when it comes to functionality, design and haptics. As long-standing Leica fans, our team is eager to further develop this vision as a part of Leica and simultaneously benefit from the company’s technical and optical excellence’.
Fjorden Electra AS was founded by Dr Victor Henning in Oslo (Norway) in 2020 with the aim of developing iPhone apps and accessories and successfully establishing them in the global marketplace. In their daily project work, the development teams from Fjorden and Leica work in close collaboration at the Leica headquarters in Wetzlar, the home of German optical engineering excellence, or at the Leica Mobile Competence Centre in Cologne, an engineering and design office with a testing lab, which is primarily the workplace of the photographic engineering specialists of the Leica Mobile Business segment.
Fjorden Electra AS has an impressive track record as an innovator: Since its founding, the company has registered three patents and won a 2022 iF Design Award for its Fjorden Grip for iPhone photography, 15,000 of which have been sold since its market launch.
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Leica Camera AG
Ann-Kristin Löhr
Global PR Coordination
E-Mail: Ann-Kristin.Loehr@leica-camera.com
Leica Camera – A Partner for Photography
Leica Camera AG is an international, premium manufacturer of cameras and sports optics. The legendary reputation of the Leica brand is based on a long tradition of excellent quality, German craftsmanship and German industrial design, combined with innovative technologies. An integral part of the brand's culture is the diversity of activities the company undertakes for the advancement of photography. In addition to the Leica Galleries and Leica Akademies spread around the world, there are the Leica Hall of Fame Award and, in particular, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA), which is considered one of the most innovative sponsorship awards existing today. Furthermore, Leica Camera AG, with its headquarters in Wetzlar, Hesse, and a second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, has a worldwide network of its own national organisations and Leica Retail Stores.