Xiaomi has just announced the Watch 5 with its flagship Xiaomi 17 Ultra Smartphone in China. The new smartwatch is somewhat actually somewhat better than the one in the past – there is a larger battery, eSIM support, and a dual-chip architecture that ought to work to provide a balance between performance and power consumption.
Display and Build
The Watch 5 has a 1.54-inch round AMOLED display that has a 60Hz 480×480 resolution. The brightness is as high as 1,500 nits, and it is expected that the periphery will be legible enough to display the objects in the open without squinting. To give some context, the Apple Watch Series 10 reaches its limit of 2,000 nits, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 also reaches 2,000 nits. So Xiaomi is not exactly competing on the level of the high end players in this case, but 1,500 nits is quite operational in the direct sunlight.
The situation is a stainless steel case with a synthetic sapphire crystal that is over both the front display and the sensor arsenal at the rear. It is 56g (no bracelet) and 12.3mm thick, which is not very new in terms of a feature-packed smartwatch. It has a water resistance of 5ATM, which means that it can be used for swimming, but it should not be in a hot tub.
The whole thing runs on Xiaomi’s HyperOS 3.
What’s Under the Hood
A dual-chip architecture was chosen by Xiaomi; in this case, the Snapdragon W5 processor of Qualcomm is combined with a low-energy Hengxuan 2800 chipset. The concept is simple, the W5 can cope with the demanding tasks, and the Hengxuan chip can monitor the background and keep the phone constantly on without exhausting the battery. It is a comparable strategy to other manufacturers who have attempted to get more out of their wearables.
Health and Fitness Tracking
The sensor package covers the usual bases: continuous heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen (SpO2), stress tracking, and sleep analysis. There’s also ECG functionality, which remains relatively uncommon outside premium smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, and Withings.
Xiaomi claims support for over 150 sports modes. More interesting is the inclusion of full-color offline maps for running – handy if you prefer leaving your phone behind on longer routes.
The funny part here is that according to Xiaomi the ECG sensor is a gesture control system. It picks up hand muscle gestures and allows you to answer calls, snores, remotely take photos or even control music playback without touching the screen. The question of whether this is a reliable practice is yet to be determined, but it is a curious use of the hardware.
Battery Life
The Watch 5 is fitted with a 930mAh cell, which is much larger than the average. Xiaomi boasts of a normal usage of up to 6 days or 18 days of power saving mode. These figures will, of course, differ based on your usage of GPS tracking, always-on display, and eSIM connectivity, but the base capacity implies that the Watch 5 will be capable of lasting at least an Apple Watch or a Galaxy Watch without needing to be charged.
Connectivity
It has Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi, NFC to pay, GPS to locate and eSIM in some versions. The eSIM feature implies that the watch will be able to make and accept calls and cursory messages without being tied to your phone – handy when you are running or just want to leave your phone at home.
Pricing and Availability
Xiaomi is offering the Watch 5 in silver or black case finishes with three strap options:
- Rubber strap (standard): CNY 1,999 (~$285)
- Leather strap (eSIM variant only): CNY 2,299 (~$330)
- 3D-printed TC4 titanium alloy strap: CNY 799 (~$110) sold separately
A very interesting touch is the titanium strap option. TC4 titanium alloy is also the same grade as aerospace and medical implants, thus it is lightweight, hypoallergenic, and incredibly strong. That is a personal decision as to whether it warrants the $110 add-on.
Still no news about international availability. With the history of Xiaomi, it can be expected that the global launch will happen in the months to come, but the pricing outside the Chinese market will be a bit different and higher.
