Leica and Huawei have announced plans for a new research and innovation center to be situated at Leica's headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany. The Max Berek Innovation Lab, named after the famed optical pioneer who created many of Leica's early lenses, continues a partnership first announced in February and solidified in April with the launch of Huawei's Leica-branded Huawei P9 phone.

Now there was a bit of controversy about it, in which some had thought that Leica had simply lent Huawei Mobile the name, but it was later revealed that both companies had worked together to develop the camera for the handset. In fact it seems that both companies have plans to take their partnership to the next level and have since announced the creation of a new research center.

It was never quite clear just how Leica and Huawei shared the load in the P9's camera design, particularly given the legendary German company's propensity to licensing its iconic brand to basically anyone. We found the P9's camera to be solid, if not wildly impressive, in our review. But it's significant that Leica is allotting space at its own HQ to the Chinese technology giant, at least, suggesting that the two companies might just be serious about doing legitimate work together, it has been revealed, Huawei Mate 9 will use Leica Camera.