Xiaomi announced the latest iteration of its fitness tracker – Mi Band 6, in India during its Smarter Living 2022 event. The Mi Band 6 brings a larger display without any significant increment in the overall footprint with its edge-to-edge display. The Mi Band 6 retains the good old battery from its predecessor but brings tracking for a lot more activities compared to Mi Band 5. Along with the number of trackable activities and the display size, Xiaomi has also decided to hike the prices with the Mi Band 6. Let us compare these both in this Mi Band 5 vs Mi Band 6 specifications comparison, and see if there are enough improvements to justify the price hike.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Price India
Xiaomi has introduced the Mi Band 6 in India at a starting price of Rs Rs 3,499. It comes in four colours – Blue, Light Green, Orange, Maroon. Moving on, the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 currently retails at Rs 2,499 in India. That being said, the Mi Band 6 is Rs 1,000 pricier than the Mi Band 5.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Design
The design of the Mi Band 6 is very similar to that of the Mi Band 5. It’s again an oval-shaped capsule with similar dimensions and weight. Xiaomi Mi Band 6 weighs around 13grams, which is 1 gram more than its predecessor. Mi Band 6 measures 47.4×18.6×12.7mm, while Band 5 measures 47.2×18.5×12.4mm. The Mi Band 6, as well as the Mi Band 5, is water-resistance up to 5 ATM (50 meters).
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Display
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 brings the edge-to-edge display to the Mi Band lineup. Both the Mi Band 5 and Band 6 pack a 24bit colour touch screen display with an anti-fingerprint coating that can go as high as 450 nits in terms of brightness. The Mi Band 6 features a 1.53-inch AMOLED display, while the Mi Band 5 comes with a 1.1-inch AMOLED screen.
The display on Mi Band 6 has 152×486 pixels resolution that results in a pixel density of around 326PPI compared to the 126×294 pixel resolution on the Mi Band 5. Another difference between the trackers is that the Mi Band 6 packs a 3D scratch-resistant glass, compared to 2.5D scratch-resistant glass on the Band 5.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Features
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 shows time, steps, heart rate, weather, app notifications, and call notifications similar to its predecessor. Similar to the Mi Band 5, the Mi Band 6 can control music right from your wrist and can double as a camera remote shutter.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 packs a Blood oxygen monitor sensor, which is good to have considering we are still dealing with the pandemic. Similar to every other Mi Band series tracker (released after Mi Band 1s), the Mi Band 6 also features a PPG heart-rate sensor. The Mi Band 6 retains a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyro, and capacitive wear monitoring sensor from the Mi Band 5.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 as well as Mi Band 5 support 24-hour sleep tracking, and continuous heart-rate monitoring in addition to sports activity tracking. The Mi Band 6 can track 30 activities including outdoor running, indoor running, walking, cycling, indoor cycling, swimming, exercise, elliptical machine, skipping rope, yoga, rowing machine, indoor fitness, indoor ice skating, HIIT, core training, stretching, stepper, gymnastics, pilates, street dance, dance, zumba, cricket, bowling, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, boxing, and kickboxing. While, the previous-gen Mi Band 5 could track only 11 activities that include outdoor running, indoor running, walking, cycling, indoor cycling, swimming, exercise, elliptical machine, skipping rope, yoga, and rowing machine.
The Mi Band 6 can also track Menstrual cycles, similar to the Mi Band 5.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Battery
Mi Band 5, and Mi Band 6 both pack 125mAh inbuilt batteries, which can last up to 14 days on normal usage. Both the trackers charge through proprietary 2 pin magnetic chargers.
Xiaomi Mi Band 6 vs Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Verdict
The Mi Band 6 brings an edge-to-edge display, blood-oxygen monitor sensor, and can track a host of new activities. Overall, it seems like a good upgrade in most departments compared to its predecessor. What do you think of the Mi Band 6? Do you feel these upgrades are enough to justify the price hike? Do let us know in the comments below.
