Lecia image sensor development?

There are some recent news reports that Leica is developing its own image sensor.

Petapixel: https://petapixel.com/2026/01/02/leica-is-developing-its-own-image-sensors-again/

Lecia rumors: https://leicarumors.com/2026/01/01/leica-is-developing-its-own-camera-sensor-again-most-likely-for-the-leica-m12-camera.aspx/ 

Excerpt:

In a recent podcast, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (Chairman of the Supervisory Board and majority shareholder of Leica Camera AG) confirmed that Leica is again developing their own sensor, most likely for the next Leica M12 camera (Google translation):

Furthermore, as has already become somewhat known, we are also developing our own sensor again. […] Up until the M10, we had a sensor of European origin. It was manufactured by AMS in Graz, or rather, developed by their Dutch development office. And the foundry itself was in Grenoble, a French company. And then there was the transition with the M11 to Sony sensors. It’s no secret that they’re in there. At the same time, we started developing our own sensor again, in a more advanced version. I think we’ve made significant progress with that. We can’t say more at the moment.