A company — we are all familiar with — has announced a new smartphone. It’s Leica! Yes, the same company that Xiaomi partners with for their cameras! Matter of fact, it’s the third iteration of their phone! Let’s discuss the Leica Leitz Phone 3 more in this article.
Leica Leitz Phone 3 Overview
Design and Display
The design, unsurprisingly, is not the company’s main focus. As such, there is not much deviation from its predecessor i.e. Leica Leitz Phone 2, apart from the rounded corners. Additionally, the phone also features liner patterns all across its back panel. It has an IP68 rating and comes with a large circular camera dial aligned to the centre of the phone. The overall finish emulates the look and feel of a Leica camera offering perfect grip on different use case scenarios. You also get a cover and a lens cap bundled with the phone.
On the front, we are getting the same display as the last iteration, and the one before that. That being said, it’s a 6.6-inch unit with an IGZO OLED panel spanning 1,260 x 2,730 pixels in resolution. Other than that, you get a high refresh rate of 240Hz and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The Leitz Phone 3 comes with Gorilla Glass protection — the version of which Leica has not specified. Thus, it could be the original Gorilla Glass that launched back in 2008.
Performance
Under the hood, this phone packs last year’s Qualcomm flagship chipset. Though not the latest processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is still very powerful with one of the best image processing capabilities. In addition to that, the Leica Leitz Phone 3 packs 12GB memory and an ample storage of 512GB. You also get external storage support of up to 1TB via a MicroSDXC card.
On the software side of things, this phone boots on the Android 14. You get a Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max as the fingerprint sensor. The Leica Leitz Phone 3 is also capable of facial recognition even when you have a mask on. It comes with WiFi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, and NFC support for wireless connectivity. Meanwhile, for wired connections, you get a USB Type-C port and the classic 3.5mm combo headphone jack. Lastly, it draws power from a 5,000 mAh battery.
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Camera
Moving on to the star of the show — the CAMERAS! Starting with the primary camera, which has an effective resolution of 47.2 megapixels. Underneath, you get a 1-inch CMOS sensor as well. With this, the main camera offers a focal length of 19mm which is also equivalent to 35mm format.
The secondary camera on the back is a 1.9 MP distance sensor like we saw on the Phone 2. On the front end, you get a 12.6 MP camera with a 78° field-of-view, an aperture of f/2.3, and 8x adjustable digital zoom. The front sensor is also CMOS while the focal length is 27mm.
Camera Features
On top of this solid camera hardware, you get additional camera-centric features on the software end.
Leica Look
Firstly, the Leica Leitz Phone 3 comes with the “Leitz Look”. This is a specially developed software engine that emulates the look of the three most famous Leica M-Lenses. Namely, the Noctilux-M 1:1.2/50, Summilux-M 1:1.4/28, and Summilux-M 1:1.4/35. Moreover, you can switch between different aperture stops allowing for bokeh, vignette, and spotlight render control.
Leica Tones
In addition to the Leitz Look, the Leica Leitz Phone 3 also comes with Leica Tones. They are basically filters for setting the tone of an image. The Monochrom, Cinema Classic, and Cinema Contemporary tones that were developed especially for the Phone 2 are being carried over to the Phone 3 as well. In the meantime, Vivid and Enhanced tones have been added this time around.
Leica Perspective Control
Next, it comes with “Leica Perspective Control” which was previously exclusive to Leica cameras. This feature allows for perspective correction of falling vertical lines, helping out mainly in architectural photography. The image correction occurs in the JPEG format leaving the DNG untouched.
Dedicated Widgets
Other than the in-camera features, you get two dedicated widgets on the Leica Leitz Phone 3. The first of which is the Golden Hour widget which takes your location into account and picks the ideal time for photography by sending you a reminder. The other is the LFI widget, which is a showcase of images from the Leica Fotografie Internation gallery. You get to see photos of a photographer from another part of the globe and get inspired.
Leica Leitz Phone 3 Specifications
- Design: Textured back with IP68 rating
- Dimensions: ~ 161.00 mm x 77.00 mm x 9.30 mm
- Weight: ~ 209 grams
- Display: 6.6” Pro IGZO OLED Panel, 240Hz refresh rate, 2000 nits peak brightness, Corning Gorilla Glass protection
- Resolution: WUXGA+ (1,260 x 2,730)
- Chipset: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm)
- RAM: 12GB
- ROM: 512GB + 1TB expandable with MicroSDXC card
- OS: Android 14
- Rear Camera: Dual Camera (47.2MP Primary with 1-inch CMOS sensor + 1.9MP Distance Sensor)
- Front Camera: 12.6MP Camera (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
- Security: In-display fingerprint sensor (Qualcomm 3D Sonic Max), Face Unlock (Mask compatible)
- Battery: 5,000 mAh
- Connectivity: WiFi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Colour Options: Leica Black
Leica Leitz Phone 3 Price in Nepal and Availability
As of now, Leica Leitz Phone 3 has only been announced and is not available for purchase. Additionally, the company is keeping the price under wraps at this time. It will fully launch on 19 April 2024 and the pricing of the phone will also be revealed then. We will make sure to update the expected Leica Leitz Phone 3 price in Nepal after that.
Talking of the availability, it is exclusive to Japan only, similar to its predecessors. Hence, it will not make it out of the Japanese borders, meaning, it will not be available for the rest of the world, including Nepal.
- Meanwhile, check out our Xiaomi 14 Ultra review video:
