Xiaomi Watch 5 debuts globally with improved health tracking, display, battery life

It’s raining launches at the ongoing MWC 2026. During a pre-event, Xiaomi took the wraps off a bunch of products for the global market, which included the 17 series phones, Pad 8 tablet, and even the Xiaomi Watch 5 smartwatch.

Unveiled in China late last year, the newest offering is Xiaomi’s flagship smartwatch instead of being an incremental upgrade over its predecessor. The highlight on the wearable device is multiple hands-free gesture controls, thanks to the built-in hardware. 

Xiaomi Watch 5 arrives with advanced features

The Xiaomi Watch 5 has a round AMOLED screen with a 1.54-inch display bearing a 480 x 480 pixels resolution, and a 60Hz refresh rate. It sports 1,500 nits of peak brightness for better visibility outdoors. The smartwatch has 316H stainless steel case and a sapphire glass layered on both sides with Mohs hardness of 9. 

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Coming to the main aspect, the Xiaomi Watch 5 is equipped with a electromyography (EMG), photoplethysmography (PPG), and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to power precise gesture controls by capturing nerve signals from each finger.

Users can create shortcuts for frequently used features. Additionally, there are three custom gesture controls called ‘snap fingers’, ‘shake wrist’, ‘rotate wrist’.

The Xiaomi Watch 5 runs on WearOS 6 with access to Google Play Store. Users get Google Gemini on their wrist, so they don’t have to take out their phones. The smartwatch ships with Google Wallet, Maps, and Calendar onboard. It can also act as a smartphone viewfinder and as a shutter control button. 

Fitness features on the Xiaomi Watch 5 include heart-rate sensor, ECG, SpO2, sleep, and stress trackers. It also packs women’s health management features. The wearable device is capable of tracking 150+ sports modes along with support for offline Google Maps. 

Internally, the Xiaomi Watch 5 has a Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and a BES2800 chipset. The smartwatch is backed by a 930mAh battery that is rated to offer up to six days of usage that can be extended to 18 days under power saving mode. It comes with a built-in speaker, microphone, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi, and NFC connectivity.

Xiaomi Watch 5 pricing and availability

The Xiaomi Watch 5 costs EUR 299.99 (roughly Rs 32,115). It can be purchased in Black and Juniper Green colours in Europe. 

Stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for more news and updates.