If you’re a fan of smartwatches, the Xiaomi Mi Watch may have caught your eye when it was revealed earlier this week. However, it only launched in China, and now Xiaomi has confirmed that it won’t be available to Europe in the coming months.
That news comes directly from Xiaomi Global's senior product marketing manager, Abi Go, who told TechRadar that the watch “won’t be available in Europe this year”.
That’s hard news for anyone who was intrigued by the watch that runs Wear OS with Xiaomi’s own interface laid over the top. The hardware looks a lot like an Apple Watch, but with all the perks of Google’s Wear OS.
- Our selection of the best Wear OS watches
- Maybe try our full best smartwatch guide
- You can already buy the Xiaomi Mi Band 4
It won’t necessarily stay from your wrists for long though as we could see a worldwide release in 2020. At a separate briefing that TechRadar attended, Go stated “we are continually striving to bring China products overseas... we also need to consider certifications and other local regulations.”
Xiaomi’s global expansion
A smartwatch typically has many health-related features, like heart rate tracking, step count, sleep monitoring and more, and it makes sense there’s a lot of work that needs to be put in for Xiaomi to get regulatory bodies to approve the device.
Over the course of the last year, Xiaomi has shown off the Mi Mix Alpha with a 180% screen-to-body ratio, a foldable phone with two hinges, the Mi Note 10 with a whopping 108MP camera, and a whole host of more affordable handsets.
While the Mi Note 10 is set to be available in Europe, the Mi Mix Alpha and Mi Watch seem to be China exclusive for now.
- Our full Xiaomi Mi Band 4 review
