Days after his 9.83-second Asian 100m record at the Tokyo Olympics, Lei Jun announced him as a Xiaomi brand ambassador in August 2021, during his annual speech.
Source: Sina Tech, Yicai, Global Times
The story · Since 2010
The Xiaomi story
- 2010 Founded in Beijing, China by Lei Jun, with a group of co-founders including Lin Bin and Liu De.
- 2014 On 22 July 2014 Lei Jun unveiled Xiaomi's first wearable, the Mi Band, at 79 yuan (about $13). It tracked steps and sleep, was rated IP67 and claimed 30 days on a charge.
- 2016 The Mi Band 2, announced in June 2016 at 149 yuan, added a 0.42-inch OLED screen showing time, steps and heart rate, plus an optical heart-rate sensor.
- 2019 On 5 November 2019 Xiaomi launched the Mi Watch, its first Mi-branded smartwatch: a square 44mm case with a 1.78-inch AMOLED screen, eSIM and a crown, priced from 1,299 yuan in China. Earlier that year the Mi Band 4 had passed one million shipments in its first eight days on sale.
- 2022 The seventh band dropped the "Mi" prefix: after a May 2022 debut in China it reached global markets in June 2022 as the Xiaomi Smart Band 7, with a 1.62-inch AMOLED screen and, for the first time in the series, an always-on display.
- 2023 The Smart Band 8, launched in China on 18 April 2023, replaced the one-piece loop that held the capsule with a two-piece strap clipped to each end by quick-release buttons. The capsule could also be worn as a pendant or clipped to a shoe, and Xiaomi says its straps do not fit other Xiaomi bands.
Firsts and innovations
2019. The Mi Watch ran "MIUI for Watch" on top of Google's Wear OS, which Android Authority and GSMArena call the first custom skin on that platform. Chinese press also reported it as the first watch launched with the Snapdragon Wear 3100 4G chip.