Xiaomi Mi Band 7: Everything we know and what we want to see

Xiaomi’s Mi Band range is undoubtedly one of the most successful ones in the fitness tracker market. The inexpensive wristbands have come a long way since the first model launched in 2014 without a display. Fast forward to 2022, and we’re awaiting the Mi Band 7. It’ll be a follow-up to the Mi Band 6, which is still one of the best, cheap activity trackers you can buy right now. So what is Xiaomi doing to improve the next-generation Mi Band? Here’s a complete breakdown of all the Mi Band 7 rumors and a wishlist of changes we want to see.

Xiaomi Mi Band 7: Release date and name

Xiaomi has stuck to the numbered approach in naming new Mi Band models for a while now. There’s nothing to suggest that the company would do anything different this time around. Xiaomi has dropped the Mi branding from some of its phones, so could release the next iteration as the Xiaomi Band 7, but we don’t know for sure.

The next fitness tracker should launch as the Mi Band 7 in China and Mi Smart Band 7 in other regions like Europe and India. Unfortunately, Xiaomi doesn’t officially sell the Mi Band range in the US, but interested buyers can always import the international models from third-party websites.

Also see: The best smartwatches you can get right now

As for the release date, the Mi Band 6 launched in China on March 29, 2021. So we’re almost upon its first anniversary, and it’s about time Xiaomi announced a successor. Then again, the Mi Band 5 only hit the market in June, so Xiaomi could launch the Mi Band 7 around that time. There’s no official word on the release date of the upcoming tracker, but given the leaks, we might hear something in the next few weeks.

Design and display

According to a recent leak from a tipster who has a good record of sharing information about unreleased Xiaomi wearables, the Mi Band 7 could sport a larger display this year. While the leaker didn’t give away the exact size of the screen, they noted that the Mi Band 7 would have a 192 x 490 ticker compared to the 1.56-inch 152 x 486 screen of the Mi Band 6. The rumor makes sense since Xiaomi has been trying to fit larger displays on Mi Bands over the last couple of years.

That said, the display on the Mi Band 7 would also likely be an AMOLED, just like the Mi Band 6.

Last year, a wild leak also suggested that Xiaomi is preparing a Mi Band model with a 360-degree flexible display. A leaker shared an image of what they claimed was a slide from Xiaomi’s internal company presentation. In it, Xiaomi apparently referred to a device called the Mi Band X with a magnetic buckle and thin-and-light design. This device may be the Mi Band 7 or some other future Mi Band. But there’s no way of knowing if the presentation slide was indeed real or if the information is completely false.

Specs and features

Xiaomi’s Mi Band range does an excellent job of basic fitness and health tracking, and it seems the company is making some welcome additions to give the new Mi Band even more capabilities.

As per the leak mentioned above, the Mi Band 7 could be the first one in the series to come with a built-in GPS. The line usually features connected GPS, which essentially uses your phone’s GPS for tracking. An in-house GPS chip would make the Mi Band 7 a good pick for those who don’t want to carry their phones with them on the go.

Notably, built-in GPS would also require a bigger battery as it tends to suck a lot of power. Leaked information suggests that the Mi Band 7 could pack a power-saving mode that would presumably disable specific sensors, notifications, and other power-hungry features, possibly including GPS.

Elsewhere, the Mi Band 7 is said to introduce a Smart Alarm function that would wake the user up 30 minutes before their alarm rings if the tracker detects light sleep.

An Always-on Display is also on the cards for the Mi Band 7. Once again, this is something that would eat up the battery pretty quickly. Therefore, the Power Saving mode makes sense to have.

It seems the Mi Band 7 will also add passcode protection to lock the tracker so others can’t access your fitness data.

You can also expect new watch faces and added fitness tracking modes.

App

The Mi Fit app just changed over to Zepp Life. That’s because the manufacturer of the Mi Band — Huami — owns the Zepp brand and uses it for its own Amazfit wearables. A better app would certainly be a welcome change once the Mi Band 7 launches. The rebranded app promises a better user experience. Although, we would have to use it to see how well it works.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi also merged its two Xiaomi Health and Xiaomi Wear/Xiaomi Wear Lite apps into a single app called Mi Fitness.

You should be able to use both apps depending on whichever one you prefer with the Mi Band 7.

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Xiaomi Mi Band 7: What we want to see

With the rumors and leaks out of the way, we would also like to see Xiaomi make a few changes and adopt some new features.

Make NFC universal

One of the biggest drawbacks of Mi Band models that launch outside China is the lack of Near-Field Communication (NFC). Last year, the company finally corrected this when it brought an NFC-enabled version of the Mi Band 6 to Europe. The Mi Smart Band 6 NFC is compatible with MasterCard payment terminals for contactless payments. We hope Xiaomi makes this a universal feature on all Mi Band 7 models available globally while expanding contactless payment options and supported banks. Currently, the banks that allow payments from the Mi Band 6 are very limited.

Improve heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking

In our Mi Band 6 review, we noted that the heart rate sensor on the tracker struggles with high-intensity workouts, even though resting heart rate readings were very accurate. Monitoring heart rate every 30 minutes also resulted in spotty data, while doing it every minute ate up the battery life.

The Mi Band 6 also failed to accurately record sleep data such as awake time and REM sleep. Its sleep scoring method was not very reliable in our experience. The feature that tracks breathing quality while sleeping also failed to impress, as neither the app nor the wearable gives any real context to the collected data.

We hope Xiaomi improves upon these issues on the Mi Band 7.

Bigger battery

The Xiaomi Mi Band 6 got a 125mAh battery that promises 14 days of “normal” usage. However, in our experience, the battery life took a serious hit with advanced features such as breathing score, all-day heart rate monitoring, and more. If the Mi Band 7 indeed gets features like an Always-on display and built-in GPS, it would definitely require a bigger battery or better optimization. The good news is that Xiaomi might have already ticked off this item from our wishlist. Alleged listings of the Mi Band 7 on multiple certification websites show a 250mAh cell. That’s a pretty significant upgrade.

Don’t mess with the design, but…

Lastly, we don’t think Xiaomi should mess about with the design of the Mi Band 7 too much. The current pill-shaped design with the slim band is functional and works. A bigger display would automatically mean a minor design change, which would be okay. However, the band’s straps are pretty boring and only come in plain colorways. Xiaomi could do with some more exciting, sportier straps to give the wearable a fresh look this time around.

That’s all we have on the Mi Band 7 for now. What would you like to see from Xiaomi’s new fitness tracker? Thread your wishlist in the comments section below.