Xiaomi led the wearable market race for most of 2018. They pulled well ahead of Fitbit and Apple and would have finished on top if not for the Apple Watch Series 4. The new release from Apple received a staggering reception in Q4, 2018. Was it that staggering, you may ask? According to a new report from IDC, Apple went from 4.2 million shipments in Q3, 2018 to 16.2 million shipments in Q4, 2018 while Xiaomi went from 6.9 million shipments to 7.5 million shipments. Xiaomi did not have an answer to that, until now. Enter Xiaomi Mi Band 4 – the company’s 2019 iteration of their successful fitness tracker product line. Xiaomi unveiled the design, specifications, and the price of the Mi Band 4 in a special event in China. The most surprising announcement, apart from the price, was the two variants. There will be a standard and an NFC variant of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. The existence of two variants should not bother you as both retail under $30 USD.
| Design and Display | 0.95” color AMOLED display 120 x 240 pixels Screen brightness up to 400 nits, with brightness adjustment All-new user interface, 77 watch faces 2.5D tempered glass with anti-fingerprint Coating 5 ATM water resistant up to 50m |
| Battery | 135 mAh Li-Ion Polymer battery Up to 20 days of usage on a single charge Recharging time ~2hours |
| Sensors | 3-axis accelerometer 3-axis gyroscope Proximity sensor Optical heart rate sensor |
| Health Monitoring | 24/7 Heart rate monitoring Heart rate and Sedentary alerts Sleep monitoring |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 (Low energy) No NFC for standard version |
| Activity Tracking | Count steps, distance, calories burned 6 workout modes: Treadmill, exercise, outdoor running, cycling, walking, swimming |
Given the price tag, the specification sheet is impressive to say the least. Xiaomi does have another trick up its sleeve – the Mi Fit app. One of the main reasons for Mi Band’s success is the app integration. In the past, the band and app combo did a decent job of tracking your steps, sleep, heart rate, and push notifications. With the addition of some new sensors on the Mi Band 4, the combo should be able to perform better. Another point that most people glance over is the Apple Health and Google Health syncing. Most fitness trackers in the market do not provide this level of monitoring flexibility. This is a clear competitive edge that Xiaomi nor reviewers talk about. With a great product like the Mi Band 4, it is time for Xiaomi to pull ahead of the competition and make the final push to the top. Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is set to retail at CNY 169 ~ $25 USD for the standard variant and CNY 229 ~ $35 USD for the NFC variant. Sale on the official Chinese site begins on June 16, 2019. Release dates and prices for other territories were not announced. If you want to pick one up early, there are hundreds of wholesalers on AliExpress with active listings. Reader Question: Xiaomi sold over 1 million units of Mi Band 3 in just 17 days. How long do you think the Mi Band 4 will take to hit 1 million units?
