by After years of releasing watches on its own proprietary system, Xiaomi seems to be preparing to launch a smartwatch running on Google’s Wear OS 3.
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Xiaomi today
Beyond the huge portfolio of phones, the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi also has a complete line of wearables, ranging from affordable fitness trackers, such as the Mi Band 7, to expensive smartwatches, such as the Xiaomi Watch S1. Just this week, it globally launched the Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro, which offers a premium but traditional smartwatch design, an unspecified 12nm chip, an arrangement of health sensors and enough battery life to last up to two weeks on a charge.
For the high-end models, Xiaomi says the watches run on “MIUI Watch OS,” but under the hood, these smartwatches are still based on Android. But by doing things its own way and ditching any potential “Wear OS” branding, the Xiaomi Watch series often lacks some of the exclusive features typically made possible by Google’s apps and services.
Core details
According to a source familiar with the development, the company may embrace Google Play Services and the entire “Wear OS” brand on an upcoming model to create a new Xiaomi Watch that will make Wear OS fans feel right at home.
Details are thin at the moment, but it’s been confirmed to us that the watch, if released, will run on Wear OS 3 and should be managed by the same “Mi Fitness (Xiaomi Wear)” app that the company’s wearables use today.
It should also be released under the same “Xiaomi Watch” brand as the existing line of non-Wear OS watches. This can be a bit of a sticking point for fans of the series, as Xiaomi watches are usually capable of going several days without a charge, depending on your usage. Over the years, Wear OS hasn’t exactly built a reputation for long battery life, which could have an impact on Xiaomi’s offering.
From what we’ve seen, development for this new Xiaomi watch seems to be lined up for a release sometime in 2023, although the timing is not yet firm.
Use OS landscape today
With Wear OS 3, Samsung adopted Google’s operating system and quickly became a major player through alternatives like the Galaxy Watch 5. There’s also the Fossil Group with its various brands – Diesel, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and more – many of which have started rolling out Wear OS 3 updates.
Meanwhile, there’s also Mobvoi and the rumored TicWatch Pro 5, which is set to debut the company’s version of Wear OS 3. Other players include Montblanc, Suunto, Tag Heuer, Citizen and, of course, Google with the Pixel Watch.
Would you use a Xiaomi Watch running on Wear OS 3 instead of MIUI Watch OS? Let us know in the comments.
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