- The Xiaomi Watch 5 is now available for sale outside China
- The smartwatch was initially launched in China in late 2025
- It switched operating systems from HyperOS to Google’s Wear OS 6
Last December, Xiaomi launched its wearable Watch 5 with Wear OS 6 compatibility. The bad news is that it was only released in China, but the company has now made the device available worldwide, bringing its new features to a much wider audience.
The Watch 5 comes with a 1.54-inch AMOLED display that has sapphire glass on the front and back and reaches up to 1,500 nits of brightness. The body is made from a stainless steel frame and comes in Juniper Green or Black, while the 3D printed strap weighs 43g, which Xiaomi claims is around 50% lighter than a stainless steel equivalent.
Xiaomi’s watch is powered by a combination of a 4nm Snapdragon W5 and a low-power 6nm BES2800 chip. This decision aims to “balance performance and energy efficiency,” explains Xiaomi. When used in Performance mode, you’ll get six days of battery life on a single charge, which extends to 18 days when power saving mode is activated.
Gesture control gets a boost in the form of an electromyography (EMG) sensor that brings Xiaomi’s “most precise gesture control yet”, the company claims. This supports seven gestures and interactions. Apart from that, there are over 150 sports modes, 3D animated workout tips, and ECG analysis.
Upgrade to Wear OS 6
Xiaomi often launches many of its best smartwatches in China and then expands them around the world. It turns out that it’s no different in the case of the Watch 5.
We’re yet to review a device from Xiaomi’s Watch series, but we have set our sights on other wearables made by the company. This includes the Watch S1 Pro, for which we got 3.5 stars out of five, and the Smart Band 9, which got four stars. When we tested these products, we were impressed by their high-end hardware, but felt they were let down by sometimes erratic software. We’ll have to see if this is a problem Xiaomi has fixed with the Watch 5.
Speaking of software, Xiaomi has moved from its own HyperOS operating system to Google’s Wear OS 6. We weren’t told why, but this should help give it similar software features to the Google Pixel Watch 4, which we reviewed favorably last year.
How much will you have to pay for a Watch 5? It’s unclear, as US pricing doesn’t appear to be available yet, but it’s listed at £269.99 in the UK and AU$499 in Australia. Either way, it’s available for purchase right now in various regions around the world.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
