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Xiaomi’s Leica Leitzphone mostly earns the name
The Leitzphone has just launched internationally alongside a regular version of the 17 Ultra.
Xiaomi and Leica's 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.
In truth, the Leitzphone is a 17 Ultra with Leica branding and a rotatable camera ring, and apart from a few design tweaks, it's mostly the same as the Leica Edition of that phone already available in China. But the branding is a big deal: Leica hasn't let Xiaomi use its red dot logo on hardware until now, even thoug …
Read the full story at The Verge.
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Xiaomi’s Leica Leitzphone mostly earns the name
The Xiaomi 17 Ultra and its Leica co-branded special edition are closer to cameras than ever before.
by Dominic Preston
Feb 28, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
[leica-leitzphone-xiaomi-17-ultra-06]
[leica-leitzphone-xiaomi-17-ultra-06]
The Leitzphone has just launched internationally alongside a regular version of the 17 Ultra.
Xiaomi’s Leica Leitzphone mostly earns the name
The Xiaomi 17 Ultra and its Leica co-branded special edition are closer to cameras than ever before.
by Dominic Preston
Feb 28, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
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Dominic Preston is a news editor with over a decade’s experience in journalism. He previously worked at Android Police and Tech Advisor.
Xiaomi and Leica’s 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.
In truth, the Leitzphone is a 17 Ultra with Leica branding and a rotatable camera ring, and apart from a few design tweaks, it’s mostly the same as the Leica Edition of that phone already available in China. But the branding is a big deal: Leica hasn’t let Xiaomi use its red dot logo on hardware until now, even though the companies have partnered on Xiaomi’s flagship cameras since 2022. The jump to a fully Leica-branded phone is a vote of confidence from the camera company.
After two weeks using the Leitzphone version of the 17 Ultra, it’s 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.
*Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a bookshelf, showing the home screen with monochrome widgets]*[*[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a bookshelf, showing the home screen with monochrome widgets]*
Verge Score
Leica Leitzphone powered by Xiaomi
$2300
$2300
The Good
- One of the best cameras in any phone
- Two-day battery life (just)
- All the flagship features
The Bad
- Big, bulky, and heavy
- Expensive
- The rotating camera ring feels like a gimmick
How we rate and review products
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’s pre-MWC press conference in Barcelona on February 28th, alongside the regular Xiaomi 17. The 17 Ultra starts from £1,299 / €1,499 (about $1,750) with 512GB storage, rising by £400 / €700 for the Leica version. That’s a hefty premium, but there are a few differences from the regular 17 Ultra.
Let’s start with the Leica of it all. It’s 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’s red dot logo in one corner. It’s a slightly different design to the 17 Ultra Leica Edition that released in China at the end of December, 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.
[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a table outside, focusing on the Leica logo.]
The Leica logo isn’t just printed on; that lettering is raised metal.
[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone outside, showing the ‘Leica Camera Germany’ text on one side]
The textured edges make the phone more grippy, even without a case.
[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a bookshelf, in a case with a Leica lens cap]
My favorite accessory by far is this case, which preserves the red dot logo and adds a lens cap.
Other changes run through the software. While both versions of the 17 Ultra run Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3, based on Android 16, the Leitzphone’s 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 — which look great when you first turn the phone on, but less so once they’re mixed in with all the non-monochromatic apps you’ll inevitably download from elsewhere.
[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a bookshelf, showing the camera app]
Leica and Xiaomi’s design languages coexist in the camera app.
Most of the customization is in the camera. There’s an expanded array of Leica filters, and the interface uses Leica fonts and red as its accent color, instead of Xiaomi’s 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 content credentials on every shot you take.
None of this is as novel as the Leitzphone’s 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.
[Photo of the Xiaomi Leica Leitzphone on a bookshelf, showing the camera]
The metal rim of the camera island is the part that twists round.
This sounds like a great idea, and it’s something I’ve wanted to see on more phones since spotting it on Nubia’s Focus 2 Ultra. In practice, it’s not that useful. The camera island may be enormous by phone standards, but it would be small on a real camera, and it’s too flush against the body to hold comfortably. I’ve 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.
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