{"id":451071,"date":"2026-02-28T23:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451071\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T23:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T23:34:14","slug":"xiaomis-leica-leitzphone-mostly-earns-the-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451071\/","title":{"rendered":"Xiaomi\u2019s Leica Leitzphone mostly earns the name"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xiaomi and Leica\u2019s long-running phone partnership just got a little closer. Alongside the new international release of its 17 Ultra flagship, Xiaomi has been entrusted with manufacturing a separate version that is the first Leica Leitzphone to release outside of Japan, following three Sharp-made models exclusive to the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In truth, the Leitzphone is a 17 Ultra with Leica branding and a rotatable camera ring, and apart from a few design tweaks, it\u2019s mostly the same as the Leica Edition of that phone already available in China. But the branding is a big deal: Leica hasn\u2019t let Xiaomi use its red dot logo on hardware until now, even though the companies have partnered on Xiaomi\u2019s flagship cameras since 2022. The jump to a fully Leica-branded phone is a vote of confidence from the camera company.<\/p>\n

After two weeks using the Leitzphone version of the 17 Ultra, it\u2019s clear that confidence was well placed. This is my favorite phone of 2026 so far, Leica logo or not, though most buyers would be better off saving money with the standard 17 Ultra.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

$2300<\/p>\n

The GoodOne of the best cameras in any phoneTwo-day battery life (just)All the flagship featuresThe BadBig, bulky, and heavyExpensiveThe rotating camera ring feels like a gimmick<\/p>\n

The 17 Ultra and its original Leica Edition launched in China on December 25th, 2025. The international version and the Leitzphone were launched at Xiaomi\u2019s pre-MWC<\/a> press conference in Barcelona on February 28th, alongside the regular Xiaomi 17<\/a>. The 17 Ultra starts from \u00a31,299 \/ \u20ac1,499 (about $1,750) with 512GB storage, rising by \u00a3400 \/ \u20ac700 for the Leica version. That\u2019s a hefty premium, but there are a few differences from the regular 17 Ultra.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the Leica of it all. It\u2019s obvious first and foremost in the design: an ever-so-slightly glossy black finish on the back, an industrial touch in the knurled aluminum-alloy edges, and Leica\u2019s red dot logo in one corner. It\u2019s a slightly different design to the 17 Ultra Leica Edition that released in China at the end of December<\/a>, which has a two-tone finish and orients the Leica logo the other way. It also ships with branded accessories, including a faux leather case with a Leica lens cap, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and a bright red wrist strap.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The Leica logo isn\u2019t just printed on; that lettering is raised metal.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The textured edges make the phone more grippy, even without a case.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

My favorite accessory by far is this case, which preserves the red dot logo and adds a lens cap.<\/p>\n

Other changes run through the software. While both versions of the 17 Ultra run Xiaomi\u2019s HyperOS 3, based on Android 16, the Leitzphone\u2019s interface has been customized. There are dedicated Leica widgets, including photo galleries and a golden-hour timer, and custom monochrome app icons for the most popular apps from Xiaomi and third parties \u2014 which look great when you first turn the phone on, but less so once they\u2019re mixed in with all the non-monochromatic apps you\u2019ll inevitably download from elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Leica and Xiaomi\u2019s design languages coexist in the camera app.<\/p>\n

Most of the customization is in the camera. There\u2019s an expanded array of Leica filters, and the interface uses Leica fonts and red as its accent color, instead of Xiaomi\u2019s usual yellow. A new Leica Essential shooting mode lets you pick between two camera simulations: a color re-creation of the M9 and a monochromatic take on the M3. The Leitzphone also adds the option to enable C2PA<\/a> content credentials on every shot you take.<\/p>\n

None of this is as novel as the Leitzphone\u2019s unique hardware feature: a rotatable camera ring. The edge of the camera island can be twisted round, with a satisfying haptic buzz to emulate the feel of gears clicking. It makes for an excellent fidget spinner, though its real purpose is to control zoom in the camera app, or cycle through exposure settings or filters if you prefer.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The metal rim of the camera island is the part that twists round.<\/p>\n

This sounds like a great idea, and it\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to see on more phones since spotting it on Nubia\u2019s Focus 2 Ultra<\/a>. In practice, it\u2019s not that useful. The camera island may be enormous by phone standards, but it would be small on a real camera, and it\u2019s too flush against the body to hold comfortably. I\u2019ve had to force myself to use the camera ring to zoom, finding the onscreen controls quicker and more natural every time. Perhaps with persistence I could drill it in my muscle memory; for now, I mostly rotate it by accident and get annoyed when I do.<\/p>\n

The addition of the zoom ring makes sense given the 17 Ultra\u2019s headline photography feature: a telephoto with continuous optical zoom. While Xiaomi\u2019s 15 Ultra featured two telephoto cameras, the 17 Ultra combines them into one. (The company skipped 16 to catch up with Apple<\/a>.) A single 1\/1.4-inch type 200-megapixel sensor is paired with a Leica APO zoom lens that covers 3.2-4.3x magnification \u2014 the equivalent of 75-100mm \u2014 adjusting the aperture from f\/2.39-2.96 as it goes.<\/p>\n

The obvious criticism is the same we levied at Sony\u2019s Xperia 1 IV<\/a>, which boasted continuous 3.5-5.2x zoom: This is too short a spread to make much difference. It\u2019s rare that the framing of a photo changes drastically as you move through the range, and outside those limits you\u2019re back to the same digital zoom and sensor cropping that every other phone offers.<\/p>\n

1\/20I took all of these photos using the 17 Ultra\u2019s telephoto camera.<\/p>\n

Photos are excellent. The large sensor delivers natural bokeh, along with macro support at a minimum distance of 30cm. It can handle challenging lighting conditions, with good results in dim light \u2014 though it did once struggle with the inverse, blowing out highlights on an especially bright day. Mostly I\u2019ve shot exclusively on the Leica Authentic mode \u2014 the other option being Leica Vibrant \u2014 which I like for its filmic qualities, preserving more of the highlights and shadows than most phones and avoiding the flattened sheen of excessive HDR.<\/p>\n

The other lenses are just as impressive, though I do find myself defaulting to the telephoto. The main camera has a large 1-inch-type sensor, and the same 50-megapixel resolution as the ultrawide and selfie camera. It\u2019s one of the first phones to include a LOFIC (lateral overflow integration capacitor) sensor<\/a>, which expands the dynamic range for highlights, helping me take some of the most dramatic skyline shots I\u2019ve managed on a phone, and contributing to excellent performance in nighttime shots with bright lights.<\/p>\n

1\/14These are a mix of photos from the other lenses.<\/p>\n

Despite the Leica logo, this isn\u2019t just a camera. The Leitzphone has all of the flagship specs you\u2019d expect: Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, 16GB of RAM (in this economy?!<\/a>) and 1TB of storage (with an option for 512GB on the regular 17 Ultra), a 6.9-inch 1-120Hz LTPO OLED display, and IP68 protection.<\/p>\n

The battery is another standout feature. The 6,000mAh silicon-carbon cell isn\u2019t the biggest around, and is smaller than the phone\u2019s Chinese edition, but it\u2019s still impressive. Even powering a demanding phone with a big display, I\u2019ve usually been able to just about get two days of use from it between charges, though with very little left in the tank afterwards. 90W PPS wired charging and 50W wireless top it back up fast, though you\u2019ll be limited to slow Qi speeds over third-party wireless chargers, and there\u2019s no support for the magnetic Qi2 standard.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

This is my favorite phone of the year so far.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem the Leitzphone has is that it\u2019s mostly a more expensive version of the 17 Ultra, which shares most of its best features. I prefer the look of the Leitzphone, and like a few of the Leica-specific shooting styles and the included case. But those aren\u2019t worth \u00a3200, and the rotatable camera ring isn\u2019t either. Unless that little red dot is very dear to your heart, there\u2019s not quite enough reason to shell out extra for it \u2014 but mostly because the 17 Ultra is such a good phone in its own right.<\/p>\n

Photography by Dominic Preston \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Agree to Continue: Xiaomi 17 Ultra<\/p>\n

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it \u2014 contracts that no one actually reads. It\u2019s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit \u201cagree\u201d to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don\u2019t read and definitely can\u2019t negotiate.<\/p>\n

To use the 17 Ultra, you must agree to:<\/p>\n

Google Terms of Service<\/a>Google Play Terms of Service<\/a>Google Privacy Policy (included in ToS<\/a>)Install apps and updates: \u201cYou agree this device may also automatically download and install updates and apps from Google, your carrier, and your device\u2019s manufacturer, possibly using cellular data.\u201dXiaomi AgreementXiaomi Privacy Policy<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a variety of optional agreements, including:<\/p>\n

Provide anonymous location data for Google\u2019s services\u201cAllow apps and services to scan for Wi-Fi networks and nearby devices at any time, even when Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is off.\u201dSend usage and diagnostic data to GoogleGoogle Gemini Apps Privacy Notice if you opt in to using Gemini AssistantSend usage and diagnostic data to XiaomiXiaomi personalized ads<\/p>\n

Other features, like Google Wallet, may require additional agreements.<\/p>\n

Final tally: six mandatory agreements and at least six optional agreements.<\/p>\n

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See All Xiaomi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xiaomi and Leica\u2019s long-running phone partnership just got a little closer. Alongside the new international release of its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[786,59,2306,99293,44207,6994,129,227,86,56,54,55,16608],"class_list":["post-451071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gadgets","tag-gb","tag-mobile","tag-mwc-2026","tag-phone-reviews","tag-phones","tag-reviews","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-xiaomi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}