The discreet professional M9 — red dot deleted, sapphire screen, CCD rendering.
The 2011 Leica M9-P is the discreet professional version of the M9: the red dot deleted, a plain top plate, and sapphire crystal over the LCD, aimed at working photographers who wanted the CCD M9 without the badge.
Underneath it is pure M9 — the 18MP full-frame Kodak CCD, 0.68x rangefinder, and the same quiet cloth-era handling that made the M9 the first full-frame digital M.
Its significance is as the collector-grade CCD M: the P treatment plus the famed CCD rendering keeps it above the standard M9 on the used market, and clean examples increasingly trade as keepers rather than users.
The CCD corrosion saga defines used buying: verify the sensor was replaced with the improved version (Leica service records) or priced accordingly; check sapphire screen for chips and the frame-line selector's feel.