The Xiaomi Watch S4 global edition has arrived at MWC 2025, bringing the smartwatch’s upgraded display, interchangeable bezel, and accuracy to more users.
The HyperOS 2 budget smartwatch first made an appearance back in October in China alongside the Xiaomi Band 9 Pro. As with most Xiaomi launches at this price range, though, not much has changed from last year’s Watch S3.
It still features a 1.43-inch, 466 x 466 resolution display and a 486mAh battery, which lasts around 15 days between charges. The design is also still defined by the novel interchangeable bezels, which have been updated this time to include more traditional watch details.
However, some minor tweaks do make this an upgraded experience.
Xiaomi has pumped the AMOLED’s specs from a fairly paltry 600 nits peak brightness to a whopping 2,200 nits at its peak. To put that in context, this figure surpasses even the best smartwatch on the market, the Apple Watch Series 10 (2,000 nits), which is pretty incredible considering the price difference.
The Watch S4 is also said to boast improved heart-tracking algorithms that complement its health and fitness features. As always, we’ll test those claims in a full review over the next few weeks.
These more premium specs could also help explain the one key negative of the new generation: the price increase. While the Watch S line has typically retailed for around $150/£120 in the past, the Watch S4 will instead begin at $185/£150.
This makes it a harder sell when compared with some of the other top cheap smartwatches on the market—not least Xiaomi’s Watch 2 and Watch 2 Pro, which both run on the superior Wear OS.
However, since neither of those models appears to be getting an update at MWC this time around, the Watch S4 may end up being the brand’s only major smartwatch to launch globally in 2025.
We’re also a little disappointed that the Xiaomi Watch S4 Sport has not debuted here in Barcelona, but we’ll keep our eyes and ears out for a potential release window for that one.
