Remember that redesigned, vastly improved Mi Band 2 activity tracker Xiaomi’s CEO so casually showcased well in advance of its formal announcement a few days ago? It turns out it’s not the only new wearable device cooked up by the “Apple of China”, which clearly needs to make some big changes and bold moves after exiting the top five smartphone manufacturer ranks for Q1 2016.

A high-end Xiaomi Max phablet and LCD screen-sporting Mi Band 2 sound like a good start, with a full-fledged Xiaomi Mi Watch following sometime in the year’s second half in a bid for extra diversity and adoption of high-profile new technologies possibly dominating the next wave of industry growth.

The company’s very own co-founder, vice-president and head of industrial design, Liu De, confessed at a press conference in Beijing to the coming of the first ever Xiaomi smartwatch, stopping short of hinting at a precise release date or anything regarding actual hardware or software.

It thus remains to be seen if the OEM will join Google’s growing roster of Android Wear partners, or if maybe Xiaomi intends to keep things in the family, playing it safe with a simpler proprietary OS. As far as an ETA goes, it’d be wise to try to steal Apple and Samsung’s thunder in the summer, even if perhaps the Xiaomi Mi Watch doesn’t end up taking form as a premium “iWatch” 2 or Gear S3 contender.

All in all, we’re definitely psyched to hear more about the company’s thriving ambitions in new fields like wearables, virtual reality and robotics. Who’s with us?

Source: GizmoChina