The pre-production model was released to reviewers in September 2009.

The lens extends to working position on power-up and retracts on power-down.

The camera is retro-styled, mimicking Leica rangefinder cameras of the past and the digital Leica M9, in a substantially smaller package sized 60 mm × 124 mm × 32 mm and weighing approximately 315 grams (11.1 oz) with battery.

This very slight blur is due to the unavoidable small movement of the camera as it takes the two images it needs to combine for image stabilization purposes.

As of July 13, 2010, the Leica X1 was the first compact camera to be approved by Getty Images for submissions to their image library,[1][2][3] and remained the only compact camera ever on that list, as on April 27, 2011, Getty published a revised wording of its technical requirements that no longer dictated what cameras could be used.