Leaked details suggest Xiaomi is launching two new budget smartwatches with unexpected features and inverted pricing, intensifying competition in the sub-€60 segment.
Xiaomi’s next budget wearables appear designed to frustrate shoppers as much as entice them. A leak reported by 91mobiles and repeated by several technology sites suggests the company is preparing two new models, the Redmi Watch 6 Active and the Redmi Watch 6 Lite, with pricing that inverts the logic of their names: the Active is said to cost €50, while the Lite is tipped at €60.
The hardware split is more interesting than the branding. According to the leaked specifications, both watches would offer more than 140 sports modes, heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen tracking, sleep analysis and Bluetooth calling, alongside a 470mAh battery and AMOLED screens. The Active is said to have a 1.85-inch panel, while the Lite would move up to a 1.96-inch display with a sharper resolution, a 9-axis motion sensor, built-in speaker and multi-system GPS. In practical terms, the Lite looks better suited to outdoor exercise because satellite positioning would let runners and cyclists leave their phones behind.
That matters because Xiaomi’s current Redmi Watch 6, already listed on the company’s global website, is clearly the more complete product in the line. It has a 2.07-inch AMOLED display, a 550mAh battery rated for up to 24 days of light use, 5ATM water resistance and support for GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou and QZSS. It also includes Bluetooth 5.4 and compatibility with Android 8.0 or iOS 14.0 and above. Against that backdrop, the leaked Active and Lite variants look like lower-cost offshoots meant to broaden the range rather than replace the standard model.
The bigger story is Xiaomi’s push to lift specifications in the sub-€60 category. If the leak is accurate, even the cheaper Active would bring an AMOLED screen to a segment that only recently still relied on basic LCD panels. That would put pressure on rivals such as Amazfit, Realme and CMF, which also compete on value but may struggle to match Xiaomi’s mix of display quality, health tracking and calling features at these prices. What remains unclear is whether either watch will offer water resistance, NFC for contactless payments or battery life close to the standard Redmi Watch 6.
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