Camera experts Leica parted ways with Huawei back in May, which opened the door for the company to partner up with Xiaomi starting with the Xiaomi 12S series, which we covered here.
With Leica out of the picture, Huawei has moved on and is now introducing its own smartphone imaging brand under the name Xmage.
In a translated message posted on Weibo, the Chinese company says, “This is the condensation of our past innovations in the field of imaging and our commitment to the exploration of the field of imaging in the future”
In a similar move to how the Xiaomi 12S series carry the Leica branding, future phones from Huawei will get the same treatment, but with an Xmage logo.
It is still quite early to tell which phone will be the first out of the gate with the Xmage technology, however, the Mate 50 could be a likely candidate to debut it when it is released in September of this year.
Huawei does not go into the nitty-gritty of what Xmage will bring to the table. The company provides a general explanation talking about focusing on new technical innovations in the smartphone camera space, refining the shooting experience and keeping up with imaging trends.
It is impossible to tell at this point in time what this all means and how it will play out in the hands of a normal user who just wants to take a quick picture of his dog and post it on his Instagram. We will just have to wait and see.
Huawei has always been known to offer exceptional camera performance at affordable prices compared to their competitors like Samsung and Apple. However, the US ban really took a toll on the company, forcing it to change its strategy and rethink its growth.
The impressive camera performance from the Chinese company has over the years been attributed to their use of larger RYYB sensors, solid periscope cameras, AI features like reflection removal, accurate HDR processing and a few other factors.
Whether this will continue with the introduction of Xmage is a matter of waiting and seeing. However, the major obstacle for the company still remains the lack of seamless integration with Google apps as a direct result of the US ban, which makes their phones a tough sell for people who live and die by Google apps.
