Xiaomi will launch its first smartwatch based on Google’s WearOS — the wearable version of Android. To put it bluntly: it’s looks just exactly like an Apple Watch but it will probably be half the price.
The watch — announced by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun on the internet with the renders you can see in this article — will launch on November 5 along the new Mi CC9 Pro, the company’s camera-heavy phone with five cameras on its back, including one that has a 108-megapixel sensor and another with 5x optical zoom.
The Apple Watch made by Xiaomi looks just like the original all the way down to the oversized crown and power button placed in exactly the same spots as the original. According to Jun, it will come in silver and black.
The Xiaomi Smartwatch’s schematics show many of the features in the Apple Watch: GPS, NFC functionality, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a linear motor for vibration, and eSIM support for LTE connectivity.
The watch also comes with speakers, so you can talk to it hands free — and make calls.
There are no mentions of other features, like heartbeat or EKG monitoring. I wouldn’t be surprised if the watch has them. For sure, we can expect heartbeat tracking.
But, while the Xiaomi Smartwatch may not go as far as the Apple Watch in terms of health functionality, we can be sure about one thing: looking at the price differential between flagships from Apple and Xiaomi, you should expect at least 30% or 40% reduction of price compared to the Apple Watch.
The Chinese company is well known for offering top-notch hardware quality that matches companies like Samsung or Apple, but with reasonable profit margins. It’s also well known for stealing the best designs from the competition, as this device clearly shows.
