The German camera manufacturer Leica has already worked with many smartphone manufacturers, but has never launched a phone under its own banner. That is changing today with the Leitz Phone 1. It is the first smartphone that not only has a Leica camera system, but is also given its unmistakable branding.
Announced at a press event in Tokyo (via Engadget Japan), the new Leica cell phone should look familiar to many. It comes with a single, huge 1-inch 20MP camera sensor, the largest that can be on a phone. The camera module also has a magnetic round lens cap.
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The 6.6-inch OLED display houses a 12.6 MP selfie shooter with a scalable refresh rate of 240 Hz. The heart of the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage . A 5,000 mAh battery supplies the Leitz Phone 1.
These are the exact specifications of the Sharp Aquos R6, right up to the 1-inch camera sensor. Leica didn’t shy away from acknowledging that the two phones are essentially the same except for the shape of the camera module.
Leica Leitz Phone 1 Price and Availability
The Leica Leitz Phone 1 is now only available through Softbank in Japan. There is no word on global availability, just like with the Aquos R6.
In terms of pricing, the Leica Leitz Phone 1 retails for 187,920 yen, or about $ 1,700.