Xiaomi teases Mi Band 5 with bigger display and magnetic charging

In its latest teaser, the company has revealed seven new features that will find a place on the Mi Band 5.

Previous reports on the Mi Band 5 showed off graphic assets found within the Mi Wear APK, and these suggested that there is unlikely to be much deviation from the previous Mi Band design. But still, these did not completely rule out the possibility of the renders being mere placeholders. Now, Xiaomi has officially revealed the Mi Band 4 design on Weibo, and it does indeed look pretty much the same as the Mi Band 4.

HIGHLIGHTS
– The Mi Band 5 will support payments through the NFC feature
– Mi Band 5 will bring a 1.2-inch OLED display
– The smart fitness band is also said to bring support for SpO2 feature

At first glance, the Mi Band 5 might appear to have a different band design from the Mi Band 4, with the straps attaching with the main body in a different fashion, as seen on the orange and yellow color variants. But the olive green color variant follows the band color all around the tracker body, so it looks like the orange as well as the yellow color bands will simply sport a black color alongside the holder perimeter.

In terms of new functionality, the official poster shows off period tracking functionality, which would be new for the Mi Band 5, at launch. We also spot wallet functionality, but that is likely to stay limited to China only. Features previously spotted include SpO2 tracking, PAI, meditation guidance, and integration of Amazon Alexa digital assistant.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 is launching in China on June 11. The device will very likely make its way to other markets as well, even though the lower cost Redmi Band has not been released outside China.

One of my main complaints on the previous Mi Band 4 was the then-new charger design, which was changed from the Mi Band 3. Here is the excerpt from my review:

As it turns out, Xiaomi has indeed explored a better charger design for the Mi Band 5, and it does involve magnets.

As teased by a Xiaomi official on Weibo, the upcoming Mi Band 5 comes with a magnetic charging connector that snaps itself into place on the band. What’s even better is the fact that you no longer need to pop the fitness tracker module out of the band for charging the device. This fixes my sole complaint from the previous generation, and I am excited to see how the Mi Band 5 now stands as a comprehensive experience.