A leaked email from Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun, to staff revealed Xiaomi’s plans to set up a separate department dedicated to bolstering smartphone camera capabilities.
In the email, Lei wrote: “The company has decided to set up a separate camera department within the smartphone division. With the company’s resources, we aim to build smartphone cameras capable of taking world-class quality photos!” Lei also announced that Zhu Dan (朱丹), the director of electrical engineering at Xiaomi, will head the new department.
Cameras seem to be every new smartphone’s selling point, if not the biggest. Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei, OPPO, and Meizu have all been focusing on building high-end cameras to for their new models.
According to DxOMark, the leading source of image quality ratings for smartphones, Xiaomi’s rival Huawei currently leads the charts with the highest-quality smartphone camera on the market, followed by Samsung. The soon-to-IPO Xiaomi is prioritizing camera capabilities, perhaps one of its weaker spots, for future phones.