Xiaomi's next smartwatch might run Wear OS

Xiaomi is an electronics OEM known for its fitness bands as well as its mobile devices and other products. However, its wearables have not typically been associated with the main Android split-off developed specifically for smartwatches. However, its phone companion app has been found to exhibit references to what may be this company's first device to run this software.

This product may be called the Mi Watch, a name detected in version 2.28 of the Wear OS app. The term Mi Wear, which may be an analog of the Fossil Smartwatches app for that company's wearables, has also appeared alongside it. However, no novel device leak would be complete without a development code-name to go with it, and the "Mi Watch" appears to have a doozy: Baiji, an extinct species of dolphin.

Wear OS is a smartwatch solution that may be flagging in comparison to in-house alternatives such as LiteOS and Tizen, developed by Huawei and Samsung respectively despite the fact they are Android OEMs. Considering this, it is a little strange that Xiaomi - a company capable of producing a device such as the Mi Mix Alpha - apparently lacks the confidence to do the same.