On February 19, 2024, Xiaomi, the world's leading consumer electronics and smart manufacturing company, and Leica Camera Corporation jointly announced the joint establishment of the Xiaomi Leica Optics Institute. This is a R&D institution with optical underlying technology as the core, image digital technology, AI and other multidisciplinary cross-integration.
Based on the previous work of the Leica Optics Institute team at Xiaomi, the two parties are advancing the development of a new mobile optical performance standard that is currently the most advanced in industry concepts, technologies and user experience. The first milestone in the evolution of this standard practice, the new imaging flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which was released this month, will also deliver the optical quality that Xiaomi Leica has never seen before in the field of mobile imaging.
Xiaomi's Leica Institute of Optics aims to continuously improve the strength and depth of innovation in mobile image optical technology, and is committed to creating an advanced mobile image optical system that leads the times. Based on the core strengths of Leica and Xiaomi, the institute will focus on four major technical topics: ultra-precision optical design, advanced high-performance computational photography, stringent lens optical standards, and research and application of cutting-edge optoelectronic technology.
To this end, Xiaomi and Leica have invested a lot of resources and formed a luxury joint team of more than 200 experts. Peter Karbe, the leader behind Leica lenses and the legendary optical designer who designed a variety of Leica classic lenses such as Noctilux and APO series, will serve as an optical expert, Zeng Xuezhong, senior vice president of Xiaomi Group and president of the mobile phone department, Yi Yan, head of the software technology expert group and chief imaging system expert of Xiaomi Group, and Wang Xuanran, general manager of Xiaomi camera department and chief camera expert, will serve as deputy director.
Xiaomi has provided strong R&D resources to the Leica Institute for Optics, and has planned three camera laboratories in Beijing with a total area of 2,644m, focusing on camera hardware, imaging, and objective and subjective image quality evaluation, which will become one of the largest and most automated camera laboratories in the industry.
Lu Weibing, Partner and President of Xiaomi Group, said: "For more than 100 years, Leica has been committed to creating world-class optical lenses, which are representative of exquisite optical engineering design and exquisite manufacturing technology. Xiaomi believes that 'light is the origin of images' and the core and cornerstone of 'making reality hierarchical'. Through Xiaomi's Leica Institute for Optics We will continue to redraw the boundaries of mobile image optics by leveraging the strengths of both companies, and continue to lead the era of mobile image optics." ”
Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Cameras, said: "The cooperation between Leica and Xiaomi over the past two years has been remarkable. Together, we have succeeded in bringing the iconic Leica photographic experience to the moving image, as exemplified by the Leica summilux optical lenses. The Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra's imaging system is the latest collaboration between us, and it will bring the next generation of top-of-the-line Summlux lenses in the field of mobile imaging optics. Optics is the technology accumulation that Leica is most proud of over the past century, and the establishment of Xiaomi Leica Optical Research Institute will bring together the most elite teams in this field to work together to continue to break the optical shackles of mobile imaging, create an era-leading mobile imaging optical system, and open a new optical era of mobile imaging. ”