Xiaomi made its first foray into the smartwatch market, unveiling the Mi Watch, featuring a strikingly similar design to rival Apple’s offering in the segment.
Two versions of Mi Watch will be launched: an aluminium-bodied unit costing CNY1,299 ($185) and a stainless-steel version priced CNY1,999. Both will initially only be on sale in China, with the lower-priced version available on 11 November and the stainless-steel option from next month.
The Verge reported the devices will run on Xiaomi’s homegrown MIUI software, based on Google’s Wear OS. The watch features a 1.78-inch AMOLED display, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, with two microphones for recording audio and making voice calls.
It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 4G chipset.
[1]Several media outlets noted the similarities with the Apple Watch (pictured left), with Xiaomi’s new device also sporting a square body that includes a crown and a button.
Although Mi Watch is Xiaomi’s first smartwatch, it already competes in the wearables market with a range of low-price fitness bands which are popular across Asia.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MWL2019_APple_Watch_WWDC-e1559648355725.jpg
