Mi Smart Band 5: Xiaomi's global fitness tracker will support blood oxygen monitoring but NFC functionality may be missing

Xiaomi will be launching the Mi Band 5 globally as the Mi Smart Band 5 next month, with the fitness tracker possibly receiving Lite and Pro variants eventually too. While the company has recently enabled REM sleep tracking within the Mi Fit app, the Mi Smart Band 5 may also feature a pulse oximeter. There was a rumour that the Mi Band 5 would support this functionality, but this came to nothing.

Brought to our attention by Gadgets & Wearables, the belief that the Mi Smart Band 5 will have a SpO2 sensor stems from a thread on GeekDoing forums. Posted by moderator MagicalUnicorn, it turns out that only the global edition of Xiaomi's latest fitness tracker has a SpO2 sensor.

Additionally, the software contains references for the Mi Smart Band 5 having Amazon Alexa-integration. However, the global edition will apparently not support NFC. This would contradict what retailers like Gearbest have listed on their websites. However, Xiaomi did release non-NFC and NFC versions of the Mi Band 5 in China, so the company could be releasing another non-NFC model for global audiences.

Xiaomi is yet to announce when it plans to release the Mi Smart Band 5. No NFC functionality would be a shame though, even if the fitness tracker has a SpO2 sensor.

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