Phone Camera Tech Partners: Meet Zeiss, Hassleblad, and Leica

Competition in the smartphone industry is becoming tougher each year, and some have partnered with known camera tech brands to bring you the best shots you can get on a small device. Here are some of those phone camera tech whom you may have heard in recent years.

It’s no secret that smartphones are tapping renowned camera brands not only for the big recognition associated with the brand, but also for the imaging tech they can bring in with the partnership to further enhance their product offerings. We list down some of those that have successfully forged partnerships, in no particular order.

Zeiss

Seemingly the oldest of the brands we have here, Carl Zeiss AG, or commonly known as Zeiss, is a global leader in the optics and optoelectronics industry, serving healthcare, manufacturing, semiconductors, and consumer electronics since 1846. The company also specializes in manufacturing high-precision lenses, microscopes, and other optical systems. Just a tidbit here: they make eyewear too. A Zeiss Optical Center (for eyeglasses) opened in GH Mall in Greenhills just earlier this month.

What makes Zeiss products renowned are for their exceptional quality, clarity, and precision. You know them as the company behind cameras for various Nokia bar phones in the 2000s up to the first iterations of Nokia Android phones with HMD Global, but now it’s making its name again as the imaging tech partner for vivo since 2020, most recently with the newly released vivo V30 Pro.

Hasselblad

Hasselblad may be a relative newcomer when it comes to partnerships, but it has been in the industry just as long – it was established in 1941 in Sweden, and is known for their iconic Hasselblad 500 series cameras, which have been used by professional photographers and astronauts alike for capturing high-resolution images in a variety of settings

The camera brand is known to first have a partnership with Motorola for its modular Moto Z series, before inking a deal with OnePlus and OPPO in 2021.

Leica

Leica may be the most recognizable of them all, as its partnership with Huawei’s P and Mate series devices from 2016 to 2020 created a buzz in smartphone photography. It’s not surprising at all, as Leica has been making cameras since 1914 in Germany and has gained a cult following among photographers for their craftsmanship, durability, and exceptional image quality of their color and monochrome cameras.

The camera maker now aligns itself with XIaomi, which has sealed the deal on the partnership since 2022. Most recently, the Xiaomi 14 featured Leica optics along with upgraded camera tech for the device.

As competition intensifies with more brands coming up with better camera technologies, brands strive to give us the best of all worlds with partnerships like these. The real winners: Us consumers, who get to experience these groundbreaking phone camera tech that pushes boundaries.