Leica Camera AG is expanding its product portfolio with the launch of its own smartphone for the first time, available exclusively in the Japanese market – the Leitz Phone 1.
Leica Camera AG sets another milestone in the company’s 100-year plus history. With the Leitz Phone 1, the first Leica smartphone, the company is expanding its product portfolio and taking its next logical step forward in future technology.
With its iconic Leica Design, the smartphone combines intuitive handling and, for smartphones, an exceptionally large, high-performance, 1-inch image sensor with integrated Leica lens technology to deliver brilliant pictures that impress with outstanding quality and true-to-life detail, even for large-format prints. With the Leitz Phone 1, the company once again underlines its constant pursuit of technical innovations of the highest quality.
Dr Andreas Kaufmann, Majority Shareholder und Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG: ‘Leica has a long-established tradition that is and always has been characterised by the constant pursuit of technical innovation. We welcome smartphones, because they make a very valuable contribution to the world of photography. Never before have people taken as many pictures as they do today: billions of pictures are posted online every day. For Leica, the launch of our own smartphone is the next and logical step on the path to the technologies and markets of the future. Personally, it fills me with pride when I see that Leica Camera AG has once again set a significant milestone in both the history of the company and smartphone photography with the Leitz Phone 1.’
Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG, adds: ‘Since its invention, photography has been transformed many times and in many ways, and the end of this process is by no means in sight. Images captured with a smartphone have become a method for instantaneous communication, a visual language without limitations. Our customers combine smartphones and Leica cameras to meet the needs of any particular situation, that moment in time and their desired result. Considering our leading expertise in optical engineering, design, imaging software and our experience with consumers, our own smartphone is a logical consequence that further underlines Leica’s powers of innovation.’
The Leitz Phone 1 is produced exclusively for the Japanese market in collaboration with Sharp Corporation and is available from SoftBank, Japan’s leading distributor of information and communications technology.