Xiaomi Mi Band 7 Pro is official – and it apes the Huawei Band
Xiaomi has teased its Mi Band 7 Pro, and it’s a major departure from seven generations of its budget fitness tracker.
The Chinese company teased the new device on Weibo. A Mi Band Pro has been heavily rumored and we reported on its existence back in May.
According to the Weibo post, Xiaomi will launch the Mi Band Pro on 7 July, alongside the Xiaomi 12S series. This will be a release in China, so as usual, we’ll have to wait and see if we get a global edition.
“For the first time, in the form of a large square screen, it is possible to imagine fashion. For the first time, complete the Pro advanced level, bringing a more professional sports and health experience,” reported NotebookCheck.
From the pictures of the Mi Band Pro it seems a large departure from the standard band.
The screen is much closer to what we’ve seen on the Huawei Band/Watch Fit series, which has been aped by a number of rival devices, including the Oppo Watch Freevand Honor Band.
The teaser didn’t elaborate on the kind of features we’d see, but we’d guess that GPS would be a shoe-in, and that the larger screen would be used for ore in-depth sports and health tracking experiences.
The global edition of the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 launched in June 2022. While it offered incremental improvements in terms of screen tech and size, the real innovation was on the health side, with new focus on VO2 Max scores and SpO2 tracking of breathing.
However, if you look at rivals such as Fitbit, Garmin and Huawei, have all moved to expand the screen size of their fitness trackers to offer a better experience. Using the Mi Band 7 (our review is well underway), it was striking how cramped on-screen text became.
It looks like the Mi Band 7 Pro will be a more modern take on the fitness tracker experience – but we doubt it will be cheap. The Smart Band 7 jumped to $69/£54, so expect a device that costs closer to the $100/£100 mark when it does appear in July.
