Xiaomi may be the only company with official Leica branding on its smartphones, but iPhones will soon get some of this experience too.
Leica's new LUX app is designed to mimic the experience users get from Leica lens technology. The app does this through a combination of software tricks and AI (artificial intelligence).
iPhone users can now also experience part of Leica functionality like Xiaomi phones.
There are 11 different color profiles designed to suit current Leica cameras as well as vintage cameras of the past. Besides a fully automatic camera mode that works similarly to Apple's camera, the app also offers an aperture mode that uses AI to mimic the look, bokeh, and aperture they get from lenses like the Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH.
Although the Leica app is available for free, users will only receive simulations of 5 profiles and 4 lenses. They will have to pay 199,000 VND/month or 1,999 million VND/year to unlock all configurations, lenses and some other advanced features.
The addition of Leica features on the iPhone is a pretty big deal for fans of the brand and its products. Previously, the only way to get Leica's expertise on smartphones was to buy a Xiaomi device. Of course, the big question is how well these Leica features actually work.
It all comes from the German camera brand's LUX application.
While the iOS app does a pretty good job of recreating the experience, a quick look at images taken from the app on the web will reveal minor issues like image artifacts, jagged edges that shouldn't be yes and other minor issues. Some of this may be improved by future software updates, but for now the lack of a direct partnership with Apple will always present limitations. Still, this is the closest that users can get before wanting a Leica-branded iPhone to appear.
Leica Lux is currently available exclusively to iPhone owners via the App Store, and it's unclear whether the German company will bring it to Android in the future.
