Leica drops Sony sensors, partners with Gpixel for custom silicon

Leica is cutting Sony out of its sensor supply chain. That's the headline. The replacement is Gpixel, a Changchun-based CMOS specialist with serious engineering credentials, and this is a co-development deal, not just a parts order. Leica gets a sensor tuned to its own colour science and imaging priorities rather than adapting whatever Sony ships in volume. For working photographers, this matters because it signals where Leica bodies are heading: genuinely differentiated imaging output, not Sony stack with Leica glass in front. Whether the result delivers is years away, but the supply chain shift alone reshapes how we think about what a Leica sensor actually is.