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Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, at a product launch in Beijing on Feb. 20, 2019 SCMP/ Simon Song

Published: 8:44am, 8 Aug 2019Updated: 8:44am, 8 Aug 2019

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch two smartphones using Samsung camera sensors, amid the latter’s retreat from China.

Xiaomi’s co-founder and president Lin Bin said at a briefing in Beijing that the two companies would launch two new phones, one 108-megapixel Xiaomi brand smartphone and a 64-megapixel Redmi brand smartphone that will both contain some of Samsung’s camera technology.

The company did not give more details about these phones nor did it say when they would become available in the market.

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The briefing is an apparent move to steal the thunder from its rival Oppo, which is set to launch its first smartphone with a 64-megapixel camera Thursday.

The cooperation between Xiaomi and Samsung on camera technology comes at a time when the two companies are seeing smartphone sales drop both globally and in China.