The Leica Phone

I picked up the P9 at a shop and noticed the weight first. Huawei and Leica had partnered on the camera—dual lenses, optics supposedly better at catching light. In this case the claims actually held up. The camera was noticeably better than what most phones were doing at the time.

The design is what stuck with me though. Aluminum, those diamond-cut edges that you feel every time you pick it up, glass curved at the edges. The whole thing was restrained. Compact, could hold it in one hand without wrestling it, not trying to be everything at once. Five-point-two-inch Full-HD display with decent color if you cared about that.

Came in silver or some other colors. Silver was the obvious choice. It looked like someone had actually thought about every surface, which is rarer than you’d think. Not loud about being expensive, just… considered.

This was the Huawei moment in the West, before the geopolitical complications. Just a company that had figured out proportion and restraint. By 2017 standards it felt notable. Now it’s just a phone from then, but it was the kind of phone you remember picking up.