Leica has recently unveiled the successor to its Japan-only smartphone with the all-new Leitz Phone 2. Like the previous model, it is actually based on an existing Sharp handset, where in this case is this year’s Aquos R7.
Similarly, it also comes with a new design over the original, featuring aesthetics and colour schemes that reflect the German camera manufacturer’s brand identity. It is safe to assume that we’ll be seeing even more “first-party” Leitz-branded smartphones from Leica in years to come under its partnership with Sharp.
One very noticeable difference between the Leitz Phone 2 and its predecessor is the display where the curved screen approach is dropped in favour of a flat IGZO OLED panel. It is 6.6-inches in size, featuring a resolution of 2730 x 1260 pixels, adaptive refresh rates of up to 240 Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, and thin surrounding bezels with heavily rounded corners. Besides that, the display is touted to offer 2,000 nits peak brightness, 10-bit colour support, as well as Dolby Vision.
Under the phone’s hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, which is paired together with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage. Additionally, the Leica Leitz Phone 2 runs on Android 12 out of the box, is IP68 certified in terms of water and dust resistance, and packs a 5,000 mAh battery. Both Sharp and Leica did not mention whether the device supports any form of fast charging, which might imply that it does not come with the feature.
Meanwhile, on the back of the phone is a redesigned rear panel, along with a circular camera array and Leica branding. Housed within the latter is a new 1-inch image sensor that is co-developed by both Sharp and the German camera maker, which features a larger pixel count of 47 MP. Paired together with it is a 1.9 MP depth sensor to help the camera to deliver portrait shots with rich bokeh effects. Situated in the punch-hole cutout on its display, on the other hand, is a 16 MP selfie camera. As with the previous model, the newer smartphone also comes with a cover for its rear camera bump, as well as a hard case for its main body.
The new Leica Leitz Phone 2 is slated to go on sale in Japan from 18 November 2022 onwards, exclusively via Softbank. It is slated to retail with an eye-watering price tag of JPY 225,360 (~RM 7,364), and is only available in a single White colour. Like its predecessor, it is very likely that the phone will remain as a Japanese exclusive.
(Source: Softbank / Leica [official website])
