Xiaomi appears to be readying the launch of a new smartwatch based on Wear OS 3, representing a direct rival to the Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5.
The brand has been operating in its own corner of the smartwatch market for some time now. The likes of the Xiaomi Watch S1 and the recently revealed Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro (pictured) running on the heavily modified and siloed off MIUI Watch OS, rather than Google’s Wear OS platform.
That’s all set to change, according to recent report from 9to5Google. The website claims to have learned from a source familiar with the development that Xiaomi is making a new smartwatch that runs on full Wear OS 3, which means full Google Play Services support.
Apparently, the new smartwatch will link up to the same Mi Fitness (Xiaomi Wear) app that runs its non-Wear OS smartwatches today.
While it’ll be a distinct product from the rest of Xiaomi’s recent line, you can expect the new product to run under the same Xiaomi Watch branding. As the report points out, this might prove a bit of a sticking point with fans of those earlier watches given the differing expectations they might have.
While Xiaomi’s smartwatches aren’t as advanced as something like the Google Pixel Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 in terms of functions or the full app ecosystem, they do sport far superior battery life. The recently launched Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro can last up to two weeks on a single charge, whereas the aforementioned Wear OS 3 smartwatches struggle to get to two days.
Xiaomi’s Wear OS 3 smartwatch should launch some time later in 2023.
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