Xiaomi and Leica set up an optical institute to co-develop smartphone cameras

Xiaomi and Leica join forces in building the world's most advanced optical institute for smartphone technologies. It's called Xiaomi x Leica Optical Institute and the two companies will share expertise in building a complete product that involves not only smartphone camera optics but also computational photography and AI.

The institute will focus on four major technical factors that make a cameraphone great - ultra-precision optical lenses in a small form factor suitable for smartphones, computational photography, establishing strict optical standards for lenses and research and development of optoelectronic technologies.

The upcoming Xiaomi 14 Ultra flagship is the next smartphone to incorporate the latest and greatest from Xiaomi and Leica's collaboration and marks the beginning of more advanced research in the field.

The two companies plan to build three labs in Beijing with more than 200 experts, led by Peter Karbe, a legendary optical designer behind Leica's fourth-generation lenses.

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