Continuing their ongoing collaboration, Huawei and Leica are set to create a joint facility in Wetzlar, Germany to conduct research in imaging and optical systems, among other things.
The facility, called "The Max Berek Innovation Lab" will toil along R&D efforts with regard to new optical systems, computational imaging, virtual reality and augmented reality. How this directly translates to what kind of products Huawei and Leica will release in the future is anyone's guess work, but any strategic collaboration between two major companies is bound to produce something great and unique.
The creation of the lab comes five months after the launch of the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus, the product of a partnership between Huawei and Leica announced in February, as both companies tinkered with developments and research in optical engineering.
Huawei also unveiled its own line VR mobile headsets for the P9 back in April. Now with Leica involved in research that will include VR technology, both companies may be soldering a legitimate entry in the growing laundry list of companies interested in mobile VR.
With the new lab, both companies want to develop "software-based technologies to improve imaging quality in a wide range of photographic and mobile device applications." The lab also expects to arrive at AR and VR solutions as it goes forward in its research efforts. Huawei and Lecia also intend to let research institutions in Germany along with international universities abroad get involved in the research to be conducted in the lab.
"In the future, over 90 percent of data traffic will be images and videos," Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, said. Zhengfei added that the lab is an opportunity for further expanding its successful partnership with Leica, coming up with improvements in smartphone photography.
"[W]e will deliver the most advanced innovations in the smartphone camera market and bring greater value to consumers," he said.
As previously mentioned, the first outcome of the partnership between Huawei and Leica were the P9 and the P9 Plus, sporting dual cameras that each can capture a photo in color and in black and white, later combined to show sharper image details and improved contrast values. The devices were initially praised, but not without their share of controversy.
Many wondered just how much of Leica was truly in the cameras aside from the name, as accusations pinned Huawei of using the Leica Camera AG Brand falsely, as reports surfaced suggesting the cameras were actually manufactured buy Sunny Optical, a Chinese supplier of camera modules. A joint statement released by both companies offered a clarification, stating that Leica was indeed heavily present on the development of the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
