The latest news about Xiaomi Mi Band 6

Until now, Xiaomi hasn’t confirmed the name of its next Mi Band fitness tracker. However, we are pretty confident it would land as the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 simply based on the history of the series (and the Mi Smart Band 6 in some areas). The company hasn’t deviated at all from its ascending number scheme for the line, and we have no evidence to suggest it would change that trend. As such, we’re running with the Mi Band 6 name until we hear something that makes us think differently.

Historically, Xiaomi launches the latest Mi Band in the early summer. Last year, for example, we saw the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 launch in June (at least in China). It’s possible the company could move that launch date forward significantly. It’s also possible it would land around the same time. We wouldn’t bet on it launching later than June, though.

For now, plan on seeing the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 sometime between April and June. We’ll update this with more concrete info as soon as we have it.

In the picture, you could see the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 next to its predecessor, the Mi Band 4. It’s pretty clear that Xiaomi didn’t change the design too much between the two generations. Likewise, we expect the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 to also carry over most of the design elements shown above.

Yet, that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have some upgrades in mind. According to a rumor stemming from code within the Zepp app (produced by Huami, the company that makes the Mi Band series for Xiaomi), there could be a larger display for the Mi Band 6. We don’t know how much larger, but more screen real estate on a fitness tracker is always nice. For the record, the Mi Band 5 included a 1.1-inch, 126 x 294 resolution AMOLED display.

One of the most exciting gossips around the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 is the potential for it to support Amazon Alexa voice commands. In the previously mentioned Zepp app code teardown, snoopers found references to that possibly being the case. This would make a lot of sense because the Amazfit Band 5 — also produced by Huami — has this capability.

Amazfit Band 5 also supports SpO2 tracking, aka blood-oxygen tracking. This is a helpful way to gain deeper insight into your fitness routines. Since the Amazfit Band 5 supports this, it isn’t unreasonable to assume the Mi Band 6 could as well.

Also we have evidence to suggest that NFC support could come as standard. There might still be a version with NFC in China, but it’s a good bet that other areas will see NFC support on all available versions. There are also rumors that onboard GPS could be a possibility, which would be a huge deal. That seems like it might be too good to be true, though.

Eventually, we expect there to be more fitness tracking features on the Xiaomi Mi Band 6. You can already track a slew of different workouts and activities, but the rumor is that Xiaomi could add 19 more modes to the tracker:

Indoor fitness
Indoor ice skating
HIIT
Core training
Stretching
Stepper
Gymnastics
Pilates
Street dance
Dance
Zumba
Cricket
Bowling
Basketball
Volleyball
Table tennis
Badminton
Boxing
Kickboxing