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WETZLAR, Germany: It was just days after Huawei had launched its P20 and P20 Pro smartphones in Paris, France, on Mar 27 that I headed to Germany and specifically the headquarters of Leica. The P20 Pro, in particular, had caught the eye for its triple camera setup - a first for the mobile phone industry.
The German imaging and high-end camera maker is a partner of the Chinese technology giant, and played a key role in making the abovementioned camera innovation a reality.
In fact, the CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group Richard Yu had told reporters after the product launch that one of his dreams is for smartphones to make digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras redundant.
Some of the camera and lens innovations developed by Leica over the years on display at its headquarters.
This, then, begs the question: Will Leica be able to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive field featuring ever-improving smartphones and their cameras?
Interestingly, the tour to the home of Leica was arranged by Huawei, and they were keen to stress that they see each other as partners, not so much competitors, and there is space enough for the both of them.
This was highlighted by Mr Marius Eschweiler, Leica's global director for business development, during a group interview conducted there. He said the German company "was not frightened by the development of smartphone innovations", and saw positives in this trend as the photo-taking community globally is growing due to the ease of use brought about by this.
Mr Marius Eschweiler (right) explaining how the company remains relevant even as smartphone photography continually improves. Beside him is his colleague Dr Florian Weiler, while Huawei's global senior product marketing manager Peter Gauden watches on.
He added that Leica has always positioned itself in the premium camera category, and never saw itself in the point-and-shoot segment.
"Definitely, there are things that can't be taken by a smartphone," Mr Eschweiler said, highlighting the sustaining power of Leica's products.
A Leica executive describing the German company's first digital camera - the Leica S1 from 1996.
AI A "SKILLS BRIDGE" FOR AMATEURS
Likening cameras to musical instruments, he said there is a spectrum to this and on the top end are, for example, violins of the Stradivarius fame. It takes a certain level of skill to get the most out of such highly crafted instruments.
"If I played the Stradivarius violin, people will leave (immediately)!" Mr Eschweiler said.
This is one of the assembly stations at the Wetzlar HQ where experienced technicians work on the imaging giant's famed lenses. Here, one of the female staff is lacquering the lens - a technical and delicate process.
This is why Leica worked with Huawei to refine its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities based off its expertise in imaging and optics, Dr Florian Weiler, project manager for optical design, told the reporters during the session.
"AI is a skills gap bridge" for those looking to take good photos, Dr Weiler explained. Amateurs may not know the right settings in order to take a good portrait, for instance, but through the collaboration, these settings are included in Huawei's latest P series smartphones, he added.
The smartphones have the ability to identify 19 different scenarios and objects and apply the right technical settings to take the best possible photos, Huawei had touted.
And it's just the beginning.
Huawei's global senior product marketing manager Peter Gauden shared that the boundaries for AI "has not been found yet", and this means consumers can look forward to more innovations in this space.
This was something reiterated by another Huawei executive, Mr Eric Zhou, in an earlier interview with Channel NewsAsia.
"Right now, there are settings for Cat and Dog. In future, we could train the machine learning models to include specific breeds of dogs, like Chihuahua - and send these models to people's phones through over-the-air updates," Mr Zhou said then.
As Mr Eschweiler pointed out, not everyone has the skill to get the most out of a Stradivarius or a high-end Leica camera. But with AI improving every day, it would appear that the casual photo-taking enthusiast won't be far behind in creating their personal works of art.
That is, at least, what Huawei and Leica, are constantly striving to achieve.
(CNA)
