Xiaomi Mi Band 9 is exposed, will the end of smart bracelets be smart watches?

Since about three years ago, many friends around Xiao Lei have been struggling with one thing: "Should I buy a smart watch or a smart bracelet?" The former has good looks and many functions, but the price is not the same. Not cheap. The price of the latter is affordable enough, but it is somewhat lacking in design and functionality. This was indeed the case in the early days. Many smart bracelets worth one or two hundred yuan were a bit useless. In addition to being affordable enough, other performances were difficult to satisfy users. daily use needs.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

However, manufacturers are not idle. With the iteration of technology, the functions of smart bracelets have now reached "9 out of 10" of smart watches, and the most important quality and design are also comparable to most smart watches. At the market level, smart bracelets are making rapid progress and sales continue to rise.

As one of the leaders in smart bracelets, Xiaomi has made considerable progress in the past two years. Take the Xiaomi Mi Band 8 released last year as an example. It not only has a unique appearance design, but also has intelligent interconnection and high precision. Positioning, health monitoring, sports monitoring mode and other functions are also available. After reviewing it at the time, Xiaolei said that this is almost the perfect form of a smart bracelet.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

Now, a more powerful Xiaomi bracelet is available. According to relevant news, Xiaomi Mi Band 9 can meet us as soon as this month, and smart bracelets are expected to enter a new era.

Comprehensive upgrade of configuration and functions, Xiaomi Mi Band is the pinnacle?

According to the current leaked information, the biggest improvement of Xiaomi Mi Band 9 compared to the previous generation is the screen. The maximum brightness of the screen has been increased from 600nits in the 8th generation to 1200nits, which is a full increase - by the way , the peak screen brightness of most smart watches on the market today is basically around 1500nits.

(Photo source: Weibo)

Is it necessary to make the screen brightness of a smart bracelet so high? A high-brightness screen means that it will be used in a wider range of scenarios. For example, outdoors at noon, if the screen brightness is not enough, you will not be able to see the various information on the dial. This is very dangerous for consumers who often exercise outdoors.

But this will also bring a disadvantage: when the screen is at high brightness for a long time, the power consumption and heat generation will inevitably increase greatly. Originally, one of the important advantages of smart bracelets compared to smart watches is battery life. I don’t know. Will the battery life of Xiaomi Mi Band 9 be significantly shortened as a result?

According to reports, the battery capacity of Xiaomi Mi Band 9 has been increased from 190mAh to 233mAh. After turning off the AOD function, it can last up to 22 days on a full charge. However, according to the user’s daily usage intensity, whether it can survive a week is still a mystery.

It is reported that Xiaomi Mi Band 9 has also added a sleep tracking function to better monitor users’ sleep conditions. The accuracy of the SpO2 sensor has also been improved by 10% and supports the latest Bluetooth 5.4 protocol.

In terms of price, Xiaolei guesses that the price of Xiaomi Mi Band 9 will still be 229 yuan. Considering that the current price of Xiaomi Mi Band 8 Pro on a third-party platform is almost the same price, so the sales volume of Xiaomi Mi Band 9 will be in the end Whether it is good or not depends on the specific conditions of the product.

If the above news is true, Xiaomi Mi Band 9 is indeed not much improved compared to the previous generation. If there are no major changes in appearance, it may be difficult to reach the sales volume of Xiaomi Mi Band 6 and Mi Band 8. Peak reputation.

Small categories are still going crazy. Why is Xiaomi so dependent on it?

The product form of smart bracelets is very mature, why is Xiaomi still so "persistent" in innovating?

From the perspective of user needs, people’s demand for health monitoring equipment is constantly growing. The functions of smart bracelets in heart rate monitoring, sleep analysis, exercise recording, etc. meet users’ needs for health management. Xiaomi continues to improve product functions and user experience to meet users' needs for health monitoring.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

Also, users’ personalized needs still exist, and different user groups have different preferences for the functions and designs of smart bracelets, such as some Users pay attention to sports functions, and some users pay more attention to health monitoring. Xiaomi is able to meet the diverse needs of users by continuously launching smart bracelets with different models and functions.

From the perspective of market competition, in today's increasingly fierce competition in consumer electronics, "small markets" such as smart bracelets are still relied on by giants, and the competition between brands in terms of technology and functionality has become increasingly fierce. In order to maintain its leading position in the competition, Xiaomi must constantly introduce new products to enhance the competitiveness of its products. By constantly launching new products, Xiaomi can not only attract new users, but also consolidate the loyalty of existing users and prevent user churn.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

From the perspective of corporate strategy, smart bracelets are the key "personal portable smart wearable devices". It is both an indispensable category in Xiaomi's AIoT territory and can also Help Xiaomi obtain user movement, sleep and other data, and collaborate with Xiaomi mobile phones and other products. Therefore, even if the smart bracelet does not make money, Xiaomi will attach great importance to it and continue to introduce new products.

Of course, the continuous emergence of new technologies also provides broad space for the continuous innovation of Xiaomi smart bracelets.

The end of smart bracelets is smart watches?

From the perspective of user needs, smart bracelets/watches currently solve quite a few problems: basic functions such as health monitoring, heart rate monitoring, sleep analysis and exercise recording have become important factors for users to purchase smart bracelets and smart watches.

However, the market potential of smart bracelets and smart watches is not limited to health monitoring. With the continuous improvement of computing and network capabilities, they are evolving towards personal portable AI devices.

For example, smart bracelets that support mobile payments, message notifications, and simple applications are beginning to enter the market. These functions make smart bracelets more widely used in daily life. Compared with smart watches, smart bracelets have significant advantages in cost control and battery life, which makes them more attractive in certain application scenarios.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

In the future, smart bracelets will continue to work hard in health monitoring, lightweight design and long battery life, while gradually introducing more smart watch functions, such as applications Programs, voice assistants, etc. to improve user experience. For example, they may be equipped with higher-precision sensors to provide more detailed health data analysis, or to increase interconnection functions with other smart devices to make them more effective in smart homes and the Internet of Things. play a greater role in the ecology.

As the functions of smart bracelets become increasingly rich and mature, the advantages of smart watches seem to become smaller and smaller.

Market research data shows that the demand for smart bracelets and smart watches is growing, but the market segmentation is obvious. Smart bracelets have a high penetration rate among emerging markets and young users, while smart watches occupy an important position among mature markets and high-end users. The low-price strategy of smart bracelets gives it a broad market space in the field of health monitoring and basic smart functions, while the comprehensive functions and brand effect of smart watches enable it to maintain steady growth in the high-end market.

(Picture source: Huawei official)

At present, high-end smart watches often have obvious advantages over smart bracelets in terms of functionality and technology. Manufacturers such as Huawei, Apple, and Samsung have integrated high-end functions such as ECG monitoring, independent calls, and professional sports analysis into their smart watches, enhancing the appeal of their products. Xiaomi smart watches still have gaps in some high-end functions, making it difficult to fully meet the needs of high-end users, which also leads to its lack of competitiveness in the high-end market.

(Picture source: Xiaomi official)

In the future, smart watches can make more innovations in independent communication, professional sports monitoring and health management, such as through higher resolution screens, A more powerful processor and a more complete software ecosystem provide users with an experience comparable to smartphones. At the same time, through cooperation with professional medical institutions, smart watches can also introduce more professional-level health monitoring and diagnostic functions to meet the needs of high-end users.

In the first half of 2024, the technology world is turbulent.

Large models are accelerating, AI mobile phones, AI PCs, AI home appliances, AI search, AI e-commerce...AI applications are emerging in endlessly;

Vision Pro is on sale and launched in the Chinese market, setting off another wave of XR space computing;

HarmonyOS NEXT Officially released, the mobile OS ecology has changed;

Cars have fully entered the "second half", and intelligence has become a top priority;

E-commerce competition is becoming increasingly fierce, with lower prices and higher services;

The wave of going overseas is surging, and Chinese brands are embarking on the journey of globalization ;

……

In July, Lei Technology·Mid-year review topic is online, summarizing the brands, technologies and products worth recording in the first half of 2024 in the technology industry, recording the past and looking forward to the future, so stay tuned.

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