Why do you care if cameras by Zeiss, Hasselblad, or Leica are suddenly no more on your flagship?

Why do you care if cameras by Zeiss, Hasselblad, or Leica are suddenly no more on your flagship?،

Following rumors that 2024 could mark the end of the Oppo/OnePlus partnership with Hasselblad (and also vivo with Zeiss), I couldn't help but recall (with a smile) The Scrolls, one of the big news from Woody Allen.

This is a set of ancient manuscripts dating back to 4000 BC and recently translated from “a mixture of Sumerian, Aramaic and Babylonian” although “The authenticity of the manuscripts is currently in strong doubt, especially since the word Oldsmobile appears several times in the text”.

One of the scrolls tells the story of a man who sells shirts and whose business is in dire straits. Seller, “struck by difficult times”begs God to help him.

The Lord said, “Put an alligator on your pocket.”

“Forgive me, Lord?

“Just do what I tell you.” You will not regret it “.

All of a sudden, the alligator shirts started selling well: “Suddenly his merchandise was moving like gangbusters and there was much rejoicing while among his enemies there was wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

How to sell camera phones (without alligators on them)

Putting in a little alligator (or crocodile, for that matter) won't do the phone makers any good – they'll be popular among Steve Irwin fans, but that's a limited target audience, as beloved as the late Steve was Irwin.

Because phone makers want sell, don't just make phones, they go for something else. These days, it seems like it's easier to sell phones with souped-up cameras, and by that logic, having even more souped-up cameras means even higher sales.

Enter the red dot, the distinct blue square, and the sleek “H”: the Leica, Zeiss, and Hasselblad logos, respectively. To the world of photography, these three are what Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Pagani are to the world of sports cars.

And who doesn't want to drive a Ferrari?

Operation: Nation Collaboration

A final analogy with Lacoste, I swear: having a cool alligator patch on your shirt is nice, but that's it, the shirt stays the same (it only gets more expensive). However, by having a Leica/Zeiss/Hasselblad inscription on your phone, things change beyond the inevitable price increase. Before we continue, let's summarize why Leica, Zeiss and Hasselblad are so sought after:

Leica cameras are a legend of German folklore that only materializes once you start making serious money. Yes, Leica is expensive. Renowned for their exceptional build quality and minimalist design, these cameras offer a shooting experience that is both luxurious and intuitive. Leica also manufactures lenses, known for their unparalleled sharpness and signature Leica bokeh that transforms simple images into a cutting-edge picturesque masterpiece.
Hasselblad is just another way of saying “I’m rarer than a millennial who hasn’t taken a selfie.” These Swedish medium format beasts deliver exactly what many high-end fashion, portrait and landscape photography professionals need: superior image quality, resolution, dynamic range, color fidelity and detail. extraterrestrials.
Zeiss is by far the most accessible (and popular) of the three, but that doesn't make it any less premium by any stretch of the imagination. Zeiss lenses are renowned for their cutting-edge optical technology and precision engineering, providing photographers with sharp, contrasty images in a wide range of shooting conditions.

Brand collaborations are a phenomenon that is far from new: the legendary GoPro x Red Bull partnership is responsible for countless hours of entertaining, but nausea-inducing, videos. Likewise, phone makers' partnerships with legendary photography brands like Leica, Zeiss, and Hasselblad have produced many — not countless, but many — phones with fascinating cameras.

Here are the most notable partnerships (a brief list):

Huawei and Leica – Announced in 2015, this major partnership gave birth to the Huawei P9 smartphone with a dual main camera. Very stylish. However, due to US sanctions against Huawei, this collaboration with Leica ended in March 2022.
Xiaomi and Leica – Just a few months after the Huawei/Leica breakup, Xiaomi won Leica's heart and in May 2022, the two brands announced long-term cooperation. Shortly after, the Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro duo was unveiled with Leica cameras. Fast forward to February 2024: we're just days away from the official unveiling of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and we can't wait to see what this beast could do. There are promotional shots, but the real judgment will come from users who are not paid by Xiaomi to produce the most outstanding shots possible.
Motorola and Hasselblad – In the mid-2010s, Motorola collaborated with Hasselblad for a smartphone with interchangeable Moto Z modules. One of the modules was a Hasselblad camera with a 12-megapixel sensor and 10x optical magnification. This didn't convince aspiring mobile photographers, and as a result, Motorola abandoned the idea.
OnePlus and Hasselblad – We are talking now. This time, Hasselblad really succeeded. This partnership dates back to 2021, when the flagship OnePlus 9 was announced (the camera interface in Pro mode is designed to resemble that of a Hasselblad camera). In 2022, Oppo also joined the Hasselblad partnership that resulted in the Oppo Find N3, aka the OnePlus Open: finally, a book-style foldable phone with a great camera.
Nokia and (Carl) Zeiss – It’s 2005 and Nokia is still king (member of the Sony Ericsson K750i?) and so on
on the camera module of the Nokia N90 phone, there was an inscription reading “Carl Zeiss”. By the way: Carl Zeiss and simply “Zeiss” are the same thing, the company discontinued the “Carl” after 2010. A few years later, Nokia and Carl Zeiss made the camera-centric Lumia 1020 phone, featuring a 41 MP image sensor and optical stabilization. Hey, don't laugh, it was great back then!
Sony and Zeiss – A match made in heaven. On paper, at least, Sony and Zeiss have been developing top-notch lenses for Sony's mirrorless cameras for years. When translated to Sony mobile phones, things are somewhat different and do not meet expectations – not in terms of quality, but in terms of popularity. Given the legendary status of both brands, this partnership is expected to be the most successful of all, but the invisible hand of the market works in mysterious ways. Or maybe the price of Sony's Xperia line is incredibly high and that's why people keep forgetting about it.
Vivo and Zeiss – This one is under the radar of a lot of people, because vivo is – how can I say this nicely – not exactly the most popular brand, especially in the West. This only makes the satisfaction of taking photos with a vivo/Zeiss phone even greater: the non-PhoneArena readers in your circle will never believe that a phone that isn't a Galaxy S or the latest iPhone takes such good photos. Thank you, vivo X100 Pro!

Something is missing ?

Oh, that's right, we forgot to mention Apple, Samsung and Google. Well, that's because there's nothing to mention about them – they sell their phones so well that they don't need to pay millions of dollars to Leica, Zeiss or Hasselblad for a partnership . Whether you like to admit it or not, Apple, Samsung, and Google are very proficient in the mobile photography business. Apple's achievements in photography go back several years. I remember being downright shocked years ago (14? 15?) when a colleague from the newspaper I worked at came back from vacation. As a journalist, she worked while on vacation and came back with a story. She wrote the article and printed it with accompanying photos from her iPhone – large, colorful, sharp, and overall stunning photos. From his phone to the national newspaper!

When it comes to Samsung – love it or hate it, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the new best smartphone camera: that's what our testing concludes.

Google should not be neglected either. The computing capabilities of the Google Pixel series are what, in my humble opinion, have made them so popular.

Smartphones have plateaued, smartphone photography – not yet

If smartphones have plateaued, mobile photography certainly hasn't evolved yet – or at least, it's evolving with more confidence than the device it's on. The question is whether photography-focused brands like Leica, Zeiss and Hasselblad will keep rolling or leave the party in 2024. Or maybe they've had enough of the Far East brands and will now join Apple , Samsung, and Google for an All-Star Game?

Personally, I'm not that crazy about what the inscription on my phone says about its camera, provided it takes great photos: it says Leica, Zeiss or Hasselblad. Or nothing.

I just don't want mobile photography to become boring.