Xiaomi Mi Watch: A ~US$170 Apple Watch clone with 4G, Wear OS and strong battery life

Last month we reported that Xiaomi would be bringing a Mi Watch to market in November, and the company has now done exactly that. If anyone had hoped for an original design, then you may be left disappointed. Alternatively, if you like the Apple Watch, then the Mi Watch may be right up your street. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the design of the Mi Watch is a complete rip off of Apple's smartwatch, right down to the placement of the crown and secondary button.

However, the Mi Watch starts at 1,299 CNY, which roughly converts to US$170. Please note that this includes Chinese sales taxes, so Xiaomi will likely price the Mi Watch differently if it releases it outside of China. Unlike Amazfit, made by its sister company Huami, or previous Xiaomi fitness trackers, the Mi Watch runs an in-house version of Wear OS, giving some love to Google's wearable OS.

Underpinning MIUI for Watch is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 4G Chipsatz, which the Mi Watch will power with a 570 mAh battery. Xiaomi promises that the watch will last up to two days between charges, unlike Apple and its Watch Series 5, but it remains to be seen how accurate that claim is.

The Mi Watch offers 4G LTE via an eSIM, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi and GPS. Xiaomi has incorporated a speaker too, while it claims the device can measure heart rate, sleep quality and VO2 max. The Mi Watch can also be taken swimming and should be optimised for over forty apps at launch. The Mi Watch will go on sale next week in China, but a wider release has yet to be confirmed.