Budget-friendly Xiaomi Watch 2 with Wear OS revealed in renders

Summary

• Reports indicate Xiaomi is releasing a more affordable variant of the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro, offering a budget-friendly alternative to the premium version.
• The Xiaomi Watch 2 is said to share many similarities with its Pro counterpart, including the same AMOLED display and classic wristwatch design.
• While the Watch 2 reportedly lacks LTE capabilities and a rotating bezel, it still offers Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC, as well as health and fitness features.

From fitness bands to tablets, Xiaomi has, time and time again, pleased us with products that don’t break the bank. One such device is the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro, a smartwatch employing the timeless look of classic wristwatches and powered by Google’s Wear OS. This LTE-enabled wearable offers all the most compelling features of a smartwatch, including health and fitness support and real-time notifications. This watch appears to be getting a counterpart soon.

A scaled-back variant of the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro may be coming to some international markets, according to reporting from WinFuture. The German news outlet reported today, February 12, that the Xiaomi Watch 2 is coming soon to provide an affordable alternative to its Pro counterpart.

Source: WinFuture

The Watch 2 will share a lot of space with its premium sibling, per WinFuture’s report. It is equipped with the same 466×466 AMOLED display as the Watch 2 Pro, and offered in either black (pictured below) or silver aluminum (shown above). The 1.43-inch is offset by a wide bezel, closely mimicking the profile of a traditional wristwatch.

Source: WinFuture

A notable strength of the Watch 2 Pro is its use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 processor, a battery-saving chip that boosts the max lifespan of each charge up to 65 hours, WinFuture states. There are a few sacrifices made when choosing the Watch 2 over the Pro, notably the loss of LTE capabilities and a rotating bezel around the screen. But you can connect the watch via Bluetooth 5.2 or Wi-Fi, and it will offer GPS and NFC capabilities, too. It appears that the standard smartwatch features offered with the Watch 2 Pro — a long list of work-out modes, step counting, sleep data collection, and vitals tracking for things like heart rate and oxygen saturation — will stay available on the cheaper Watch 2.

The new watch is reportedly available for preorder through select European retailers at a cost of €200 or €220, depending on the market, which converts to $215–$235 USD without factoring in taxes or tariffs. WinFuture says the official release date of the Watch 2 is still likely a few weeks away – at least for the German market. We aren’t sure if this latest Wear OS powered Xiaomi watch will reach American shoppers, but we’ve seen wearables from this manufacturer on our side of the pond before, so it’s not entirely ruled out yet. If you really want some Xiaomi gear on your wrist, check out our review of the Xiaomi Smart Band 8.