Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi has launched its new flagship smartwatch – the Redmi Watch 3 – in China.
The budget brand launches smartwatches at bargain prices, and has enabled Xiaomi to take a more premium approach to the market.
We were full of praise for the Redmi Watch 2 Lite, which made its way to Western markets, and impressed us with a solid performance and excellent feature sheet. So we’re hoping we get to see the Redmi Watch 3 on these shores, too.
> Best budget smartwatches from our reviews
Redmi has refined the design, with a 1.75-inch AMOLED display and an aluminum case. A premium AMOLED case is rare to find on a budget smartwatch, and Redmi states it can reach 600 nit brightness, some way off the 1000nit of an Apple Watch to add context.
There’s a heart rate monitor with SpO2, of course, and there’s built-in GPS, to record outdoor workouts. And there are over 120 workout profiles, too.
And battery life is rated as 12 days while using the SpO2 sensor – but we’d expect this to be closer to a week. There’s also an always-on display option, although that will deplete battery life further.
It costs CNY499, which works out to about $70. That puts it around the same price as the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro – albeit with a far superior screen and classier design. However, we'll reserve judgment until we see it in the flesh. So there’s good reason to keep an eye on this budget smartwatch hitting the US/European markets.
Redmi also announced the Band 2 – its fitness tracker. The Band 2 apes the design of the Huawei Band 7, which has in turn inspired a whole sub-market of large-screen hybrid fitness tracker/smartwatches. That includes the new Honor Band 7, Xiaomi Mi Band 7 Pro, and Huawei Watch Fit 2.
The Redmi Band 7 has a 1.47-inch screen, and only weighs 15g. It has 30 sports modes built in, although there’s no GPS. And it boasts 6 days of battery life with “heavy” use. It is being sold for CNY169 which is just $25.
We’ll be keeping an eye on availability to see whether these devices will be launched outside of China.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.