We asked, you told us: You think HUAWEI and Leica's partnership was a success

HUAWEI revealed this week that its deal with veteran brand Leica had expired, coming a few hours after Leica and Xiaomi announced a camera partnership of its own.

The HUAWEI/Leica tie-up had been in effect since 2016’s P9 flagship series, but was the partnership actually a success? We posed this question to our readers, and here’s what they said.

Was HUAWEI and Leica’s partnership a success?

Results

Just over 1,700 votes were counted after we published this poll inside our news article, and a resounding 72.86% of respondents say the HUAWEI/Leica partnership was indeed a success. It’s hard to say for sure just how much influence Leica had on camera development during the partnership, but we can definitely say that HUAWEI’s sharp climb in camera prowess coincided with the Leica deal. Devices like the P20 Pro, P30 Pro, and P40 Pro Plus were all praised for their innovative camera capabilities and great photo quality.

The results of this poll are also interesting in light of a previous poll we ran, asking users whether smartphone camera partnerships actually resulted in improved photos. Only 17% of respondents answered “yes,” while 31% said “sometimes,” and 53% said “no.”

Related: You told us — Smartphone camera partnerships don’t result in better photos

Otherwise, 14.85% of respondents said that they weren’t sure whether HUAWEI and Leica’s partnership was a successful one. We can understand this stance given that smartphone cameras in general were improving in a big way around this time, with the likes of Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi all making strides.

Finally, 12.29% of polled readers said the HUAWEI/Leica tie-up wasn’t a success. We’re not sure whether these readers thought HUAWEI was successful on its own or if HUAWEI phone cameras simply weren’t great.

Comments

• HelloThere: HUAWEI and Leica was probably the only partnership that was meaningful. For example Hasselblad and OnePlus haven’t done much, while HUAWEI and Leica were genuinely at the top of their game. I personally never used one (US citizen, didn’t know they existed until they were banned) but I’ve heard many great things about them. Shame HUAWEI is being limited post-ban. I doubt Xiaomi and Leica will live up to this.
• DBS: The partnership between HUAWEI and Leica delivered the best cameras on any smartphone since the P30. It’s surely a big loss for HUAWEI, but if Leica does with Xiaomi what they did with HUAWEI, consumers will benefit from it as Xiaomi phones are widely available unlike the P40 an P50 lines.
• JZ VR: While it was a great partnership, HUAWEI doesn’t need Leica to produce great cameras, the US’ anti-competitive bans and sanctions will only come back to bite it, HUAWEI now has the second biggest R&D budget in the world and will only become more self reliant.
• Admast: Oh well. Nothing last forever, I guess their partnership was due to renewal and as they do not sell that many phones as they used to – Leica go where they can get more money. Business as normal.