Ahead of the launch of the Xiaomi 14 series launch this week, Xiaomi had teased their upcoming Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro will feature Leica’s Summilux camera lenses, which are more premium and better than the previous Leica Summicron lenses found on the Xiaomi 13 series and Xiaomi 12S series. For context, a Leica Summilux-M 35 f/1.4 lens costs 3895 USD on Leica’s website.

Although the Xiaomi 14 series may be Xiaomi’s first smartphones to feature the Leica Summilux lenses, the Leica Summilux lenses can already can be found on smartphones since April 2017. So what smartphone brand was the first to feature “Leica Summilux lenses”? That brand is none other than Huawei, and the first smartphone to feature the premium Leica Summilux lens is the Huawei P10 Plus.

Huawei P10 Plus

The Huawei P10 Plus is Huawei’s best smartphone released in early 2017. Powered by Huawei’s in-house Kirin 960, the smartphone has smooth and fast performance to last you the whole day with a 3750 mAh battery alongside support for Huawei’s SuperCharge. 

Huawei P10 Plus with the Leica Summilux lens (Source: Huawei)

But of course, the highlight here was the cameras. Both the phones featured a 20MP + 12MP Leica certified dual camera setup at the back. However, the larger Huawei P10 Plus comes with a wider f/1.8 aperture instead of f/2.2 on the standard P10, and the P10 Plus has a more premium Leica SUMMILUX-H F1.8 lens, while the P10 featured the SUMMARIT-H F2.2 lens, the same one found on the Huawei Mate 9, P9 and P9 Plus.

More affordable Huawei P10 with Leica Summarit lens

After 2017

After the launch of the Huawei P10 Plus, Huawei started using the Leica Summilux lenses in its premium smartphones ever since, starting with the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro launched in late 2017. The full list of Huawei’s Leica lenses used over the years is as shown below.

Huawei SmartphoneLeica Lens
P10, Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, P9, P9 PlusSUMMARIT H 1:2.2/27 ASPH
P10 PlusSUMMILUX-H 1:1.8/27 ASPH
P20, Mate 10, Mate 10 ProSUMMILUX-H 1:1.6/27 ASPH
P20 ProVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-2.4/27-80 ASPH
Mate 20VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-2.4/17-52 ASPH
Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 XVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-2.4/16-80 ASPH
P30VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-2.4/17-80 ASPH
P30 ProVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-3.4/16-125 ASPH
Mate 30, Mate 30 Pro, Mate 30 Pro 5GVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-2.4/18-80 ASPH
P40VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.9-2.4/17-80 ASPH
Mate 40 Pro, P40 ProVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-3.4/18-125 ASPH
P40 Pro+VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-4.0/18-240 ASPH
Mate 40VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.9-2.4/17-85 ASPH
Mate 40 Pro+VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.9-4.4/14-240 ASPH
P50VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-3.4/16-125 ASPH
P50 ProVARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.6-3.5/13-90 ASPH
List of Leica lens used in Huawei premium smartphones over the years (Leo Wong De Quan / Gizmochina)

The Huawei P20 Pro was a particular breakthrough for Huawei, as it was the world’s first triple rear camera smartphone, and it earned first VARIO-SUMMILUX-H for Huawei. Then in late 2018, Huawei Mate 20 Pro was announced as Huawei’s first flagship to have an ultra-wide angle 16mm equivalent lens, earning the lens title of VARIO-SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8-2.4/16-80 ASPH.

Huawei P20 Pro and P20 with Leica Summilux and Vario-Summilux lens

The Huawei P30 Pro could reach up to a 125mm equivalent lens with its periscope zoom lens, and then the P40 Pro+ in 2020 broke the record with its 10 times periscope optical zoom lens, giving a 240mm equivalent lens quality on a smartphone. 

In 2021, Huawei ended its partnership with Leica with the P50 and P50 Pro, the last Huawei smartphones in collaboration with Leica. Huawei then utilised its own in-house XMAGE camera branding solution, from the Huawei Mate 50 series onwards in 2022. 

In turn, Xiaomi has carried on the torch of premium smartphones in collaboration with Leica, and the brand is expected to announced to launch its latest Xiaomi 14 series of premium smartphones with Leica certified cameras this week in China. Stay tuned to our coverage of the Xiaomi 14 series, only on Gizmochina.

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