Do any of you remember when the Huawei P9 came out and there was a slight controversy over where the lenses were made? We had originally stated that Leica didn't have anything to do with the Huawei's camera, and then Huawei and Leica issued us a correction to state that okay, they did a little bit of co-engineering.
Huawei went on to further botch the launch of the P9, but to ensure that nobody ever questions Leica's involvement with Huawei ever again, the two companies have announced that they are opening a joint R&D centre in Leica's home city of Wetzlar, Germany.
It will be called the Max Berek Innovation Lab, and researchers there will be joingly working on optical and software systems. Apparently during the creation of the P9 and P9 Plus, the two companies had such a hot date that they decided to go steady.
Both Dr. Andreas Kaufmann from Leica and Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, announced the plans, and we can only begin to imagine what sort of collaborations will emerge from China and Germany. They stated most of the work will be focused around improving image quality from small cameras, such as typically found in smartphones, although the two companies will also work on virtual reality, augmented reality, and computer-based imaging. Research establishments and universities will also contribute, but it seems mostly that Leica will be lending their expertise to Huawei's software engineers.
This actually seems like a pretty bold move from both of the companies, and it certainly gives a bit of credibility to Huawei's mobile devices. It's not going to change how many photographers currently view Leica, who have departed quite far from their traditional market in this Huawei collaboration, but it does strengthen their relevancy amongst Chinese consumers – many of whom are Leica fans.
. digitalrev.com
2016-10-7 03:00
