Xiaomi gears up to launch its 108-megapixel phone at its November 5th event, the company has also unveiled details of its upcoming smartwatch and it looks awfully familiar. The device which will probably be called the Mi Watch.
Although the Chinese company has been selling smartwatches with its Amazfit partner for sometime now, the Mi Watch would be the first under its own brand name. A teaser image shared by the company (above) highlights the square face of the watch, while the one shared below by the company’s CEO on Weibo, reveals it to be more or less an Apple Watch clone, right down to the placement of the digital crown.
Given that a square design didn’t hinder Apple’s watch ambitions thanks to good software and support, Xiaomi is looking to go a similar route by taking notes from the best in the business.
Details are still a little scarce, but Xiaomi did take to official Weibo channels to reveal basic specs. Falling under Xiaomi’s “Mijia” IoT sub-brand, the Mi Watch comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100, and will independently support WiFi, GPS and NFC, plus an eSIM, so you’ll be able to make calls via the device, too. That’s all packaged neatly into a shell that’s very similar to the Apple Watch complete with digital crown on the side albeit a slightly thicker, less-rounded version.
It’s not strictly the first wearable for Xiaomi, which already has a number of models in its line-up, such as the Mi Band 4. It is, however, the company’s first foray into a smartwatch proper, and depending on its price point could make for strong alternative to Apple’s.
