Leica's Apple-inspired M camera (pictures)

This special Leica camera will go up for auction at a Sotheby's auction next month and is a collaboration between Apple design chief Jonathan Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson. The charitable project was announced last year, and on Tuesday the first images of the camera were unveiled.

The proceeds from the November 23 auction, which includes another 40 items curated by Ive and Newson, will go to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The auction is part of musician Bono's Product Red initiative.

Leica says it went through 561 different models and "nearly 1,000 prototype parts" to come up with this camera, which is based on the Leica M.

The bottom of the device is sparse.

Similar to some Macs, the body is perforated metal, which Leica says was machined from "custom engineered alloy" and wrapped in anodized aluminum.

The lens is a 50mm f/2 aspherical.

The camera is made up of nearly 1,000 prototype parts and took more than 725 hours of manufacturing time, Leica says.

The front with the lens off.

A closer look at the aluminum front.

Familiar buttons and dials in familiar places.

The textured control dials on the top.