After a few teasers and plenty of leaks, Xiaomi has officially announced the Smart Band 9 as part of CEO Lei Jun’s annual speech.
As is the style with the company’s fitness tracker line, the upgrades are minimal. Last year saw Xiaomi mix up the band mechanism and introduce ‘Pebble Mode’ for advanced run tracking, but this time the updates are slightly less innovative.
The battery life is the key difference between this latest edition – which will initially go on sale in China from 249 CNY (around £25/$35) – with Xiaomi announcing a jump from 16 days in ‘typical usage’ to 21 days.
Sensor accuracy, too, appears to have received a similar boost. On stage, Xiaomi announced that heart rate monitoring performance will be boosted by 16%, while the sleep tracking and stage analysis have also been improved by 7.9%.
Given this data accuracy one of our chief issues when testing the Smart Band 8, we’re pleased to see Xiaomi addressing this. However, the upgrades only stretch so far. Other wishes we had for the Smart Band 9 – like GPS – are still reserved for the pricier Smart Band Pro line.
The design mechanics appear relatively unchanged, meanwhile – perhaps to be expected given the overhaul present in last year’s edition.
The only major change here is the new colors for the metal case. Instead of just a single shiny black finish, Xiaomi announced buyers can now pick between pink, blue, silver, and black.
There’s also a special edition ceramic edition – shown above and available for 349 CNY – while Xiaomi also showcases a new range of metal and leather bands, as well as new necklace designs for the Pebble Mode.
As ever, it’s unclear when the global edition of the Smart Band 9 will be announced, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground on that one – we’re expecting a similar launch and price to last year’s October arrival.
