Xiaomi has officially unveiled the Watch 5 in China, confirming most of the specs that had already been circulating. It arrives with EMG gesture control, dual-chip design and a sapphire crystal finish, alongside pricing that undercuts most rivals.
Design
Starting off with design, and you get something with a 47mm stainless steel case. The housing curves gently into a polished 1.54-inch AMOLED display, framed by a narrow 2.6mm bezel. With a resolution of 480 x 480 pixels, visuals should be crisp. Brightness tops out at 1500 nits, and it comes with a 60Hz refresh rate. Along the side of the case is a knurled rotating crown flanked by a flat button.
Protection comes from synthetic sapphire crystal, both over the screen and the heart rate sensor window on the underside. This should offer added scratch resistance compared to Gorilla Glass.
Xiaomi has also paid attention to strap variety. You get a choice between black or green fluoroelastomer bands for a more athletic look, or brown and blue leather for a more traditional style. A standout option is the separate 3D-printed titanium strap, designed to be lightweight but durable.
Dual chip setup splits the workload
Inside, the Watch 5 features a dual-chip architecture. A Snapdragon W5 takes care of high-performance visuals and interactions. Alongside it, a BES2800 low-power chip runs health tracking and background tasks. This setup lets the device hit up to 6 days of battery life in performance mode, or up to 18 days if you scale things back. The battery itself is rated at 930mAh, which explains the strong stamina.
HyperOS is again the platform of choice, but this time with support for an on-device app store and tighter integration with Xiaomi’s ecosystem, including turn-by-turn navigation via Baidu Maps and support for the Super XiaoAi assistant.
EMG gestures bring a new way to interact
New this year is EMG gesture control, enabled by a muscle signal sensor that interprets subtle finger movements. The system can pick up pinching, fist clenching or finger tapping to control alarms, calls or even remote camera triggers. It’s an unusual approach but one that could be useful in certain scenarios. Xiaomi also added ECG support with detailed rhythm reports and 30-second scans.
Other health and fitness tracking features are pretty standard and include continuous heart rate monitoring, SpO2, stress levels, sleep tracking and one-tap wellness scans. Workout tracking covers more than 150 sports modes, with indoor gym features that include 3D animation guides and rep counting.
Of course, you get built-in GPS. It supports independent location tracking with offline maps, route navigation, deviation alerts, and track-back assistance.
eSIM version untethers the watch from your phone
The watch is available in two main variants. The base version starts at 1,999 yuan, around $284. The eSIM model goes for 2,299 yuan or about $327, and lets you send messages, make calls and pay through Alipay and WeChat without your phone. Music playback and streaming are also supported. Cellular connectivity is 4G only for now.
Contact-based charging remains, and water resistance is rated at 5 ATM. Global availability hasn’t been confirmed, but Xiaomi may use the Mobile World Congress in March to launch it outside China.
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