Within the final week, each Samsung and Xiaomi have taken the wraps off their latest superphones, however solely one in every of them has correctly impressed me. I’ve spent weeks testing the Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi forward of its launch at MWC 2026 and I concluded that it is the finest digital camera cellphone I’ve ever used. I even gave it a CNET Editors’ Selection award as a result of it has been so rattling spectacular — and I feel Samsung needs to be fearful.
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra is a jack-of-all-trades cellphone, packing a supercharged processor, a cool privateness display and that all-important S Pen stylus. However its cameras solely noticed small enhancements, with a barely bigger aperture on the primary and telephoto cameras being probably the most notable upgrades. Past that, it actually comes right down to Samsung’s numerous software program AI methods, like the power to vary the model of hat you are sporting in a photograph.
The S26 Extremely’s cameras have not seen a lot of an improve this 12 months.
This has turn out to be a pattern for Samsung, with the previous couple of Extremely telephones solely barely iterating on earlier digital camera setups, including just a few additional megapixels right here and there however largely leaning into software program updates to make up for an absence of {hardware} innovation. Whereas Samsung’s top-tier telephones have been among the many finest digital camera telephones round, Xiaomi and Leica’s Leitzphone has proven what true pictures innovation appears to be like like.
This digital camera beast packs quite a lot of firsts. We’ll begin with the LOFIC picture sensor, which stands for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor and is principally a brand new sort of sensor know-how that improves dynamic vary in a single picture. It is able to taking beautiful pictures in all circumstances, together with at evening. Samsung was rumored to be contemplating LOFIC sensors for its telephones (as is Apple) however evidently opted to not go down this route simply but.
The Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi has some wonderful pictures expertise that assist it take photographs that look nearly nearly as good as these I take from my precise Leica digital camera.
The Leitzphone can also be among the many first telephones ever to make use of actual transferring lens components in its telephoto zoom, permitting true lossless zooming somewhat than leaping solely between particular zoom ranges. It really works effectively and an analogous setup has been rumored to seem on the previous couple of generations of Extremely, however it’s by no means really occurred.
Then there’s the bodily management ring across the Leitzphone’s digital camera, the beautiful Leica color profiles constructed proper into the digital camera expertise and the pristine high quality of the Leica Summilux optics used within the lenses.
The Pictures I’ve Taken on Xiaomi’s Leica Telephone Are A few of My Finest Ever
By partnering with such a pictures icon, Xiaomi has actually innovated its pictures, delivering a number of firsts that genuinely enhance the image-taking expertise. As each an expert photographer and a real fanatic myself, I have been blown away by the photographs I have been in a position to shoot with the cellphone.
However Samsung hasn’t excited me this time spherical. Its new generative AI instruments is likely to be enjoyable gimmicks, however they don’t seem to be interesting to an precise photographer like myself. The S26 Extremely must be greater than a cameraphone, after all — it must be “extremely” in each sense of the phrase. However Samsung’s newest mannequin reveals that correct pictures is not a precedence for the corporate.
The Leitzphone is arguably extra digital camera than it’s cellphone.
As such Samsung dangers dropping out on the large variety of photographers and content material creators (each skilled and novice alike) who’re as a substitute going to be rivals like Xiaomi for merchandise that may stay as much as their imaging calls for.
