- Camera lens company Zeiss has teamed up with Vivo.
- The Vivo X60 series will carry Zeiss branding on the back.
- It’s unclear how this partnership affects HMD Global.
Update: December 17 2020 (6:40 AM ET): Vivo and optics maker Carl Zeiss have detailed their partnership, confirming that the duo will launch a joint imaging laboratory in China. Furthermore, the two companies revealed that a “Vivo Zeiss co-engineered imaging system” will debut on the Vivo X60 series, as you may have expected.
There’s still no word on what this actually means for HMD Global, as it teamed up with Zeiss for several recent Nokia-branded phones. We’ve nevertheless asked Vivo for clarity in this regard and will update the article if they get back to us.
Original article: December 14 2020 (2:33 AM ET): Nokia pushed the importance of mobile camera lenses in a big way thanks to its long-running partnership with Zeiss, offering high quality mobile camera optics. This tie-up extended to HMD Global, with the likes of the Nokia 9 PureView and Nokia 8.3 offering this branding.
Now, the German optics manufacturer has tied up with a new smartphone maker in Vivo, as the Chinese mobile brand revealed that the upcoming Vivo X60 series will carry Zeiss branding. Check out the images below.
A tiny machine-translated line of text in the first image suggests that Zeiss will be supplying camera lenses for the new phones. The company previously worked with HMD Global on software for Nokia-branded smartphones as well, so this is a possibility too.
We’re also wondering whether this is an exclusive partnership, as it would be a major turn of events if HMD loses Zeiss as a partner for its smartphones. The German optics company has been associated with the Nokia name since the mid-2000s, with a short break before teaming up with HMD Global back in 2017.
We’ve asked Vivo and Zeiss about what to expect from the partnership and whether it’s an exclusive deal, and we’ll update the article if/when the firms get back to us. Meanwhile, HMD has commented on news of the partnership, refusing to confirm or deny whether it’s still partnered with the optics maker.
“We welcome our friends at Zeiss expanding their reach in the smartphone market, and we look forward to seeing them develop quality imaging experiences,” HMD told Android Authority in an emailed response.
The Chinese OEM will likely reveal more details regarding the Zeiss partnership on December 17, while the Vivo X60 series launch takes place on December 29. So we won’t have to wait too long to find out more info anyway.
