Leica is no stranger to re-badged gadgets. | Image: Leica
Leica’s at it again. As spotted by PetaPixel, the company has announced the new Leitz Phone 2, updating the Leitz Phone 1 with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and a higher-resolution Type 1 camera sensor. The Phone 2 will only be sold in Japan and will cost 225,360 yen (about $1,588).
Or you can buy basically the same phone — minus the red dot logo — for 189,360 yen, which is about $200 less. That would be the Aquos R7 made by Sharp — the licensee responsible for manufacturing the Leitz Phone 2.
The Phone 2 (like the R7) includes a 6.6-inch OLED, a 5,000mAh battery, and a single rear camera with a massive Type 1 47-megapixel sensor. That’s an impressively large sensor, which Leica proclaims to be the “largest sensor ever in a smartphone,” but it shares that distinction with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra (and last year’s Phone 1, for that matter).
Image: Leica
Surely nobody will lose a lens cap attached to their smartphone by magnets.
So what does the extra cash get you aside from a red dot on the back panel? Well, there’s a magnetic lens cap for the rear camera. And you get a couple of special widgets: one that tracks the “golden hour” based on your location and a gallery of images from Leica photographers. Oh, goody.
This creative re-branding is hardly a new trick from Leica. The company has a rich history of slapping its logo on other companies’ products, gussying them up, and charging more for them. At least, in this case, you do get genuinely innovative camera hardware to go along with your red dot.
The Leitz Phone 2 will be available through SoftBank starting November 18th.