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Xiaomi expands home and health line with new smart scales that cost just $16

Today Xiaomi unveiled five products to mark its fifth anniversary. Four of the products are simply upgrades of existing items. But the company has introduced a new device as part of its ongoing health and smart home portfolio – a smart scale.

According to Xiaomi, the Mi Smart Scale makes measurements ranging from 5kg to 150kg, with a 50g precision. When paired with the Mi Fit app, which itself pairs with the Mi Band (Xiaomi’s fitness wristband), users can track their weight and BMI. The scale and Mi Fit app are compatible with both Android and iOS – so even if you don’t own a Xiaomi phone, you can still use the scale. A Xiaomi spokeswoman tells Tech in Asia that the Mi Smart Scale is made by Huami, the same company that makes the Mi Band. That company raised a US$35 million series B round last year, after scoring an A round led by Xiaomi. The device will retail for RMB 99 (about US$15). That’s about US$100 cheaper than the Fitbit Aria. Xiaomi is not the first Chinese company to bring a smart scale to market. Picooc, which reportedly raised a US$21 million series B round from Tencent and others, has been selling a smart scale powered by Baidu Cloud for years. When Tech in Asia profiled Picooc in October, founder Zhang Rui said the company had sold 100,000 scales in the recent eight-month period, and was working on a complimentary wristband. Xiaomi sold 1 million units of its Mi Band wristband in three months.

Other products released today include a TD-LTE compatible Redmi 2 (suitable for China Mobile users), a pink Redmi 2, a souped up 55-inch Mi TV, and a power strip. Xiaomi occupies an advantageous position when it comes to China’s smart home industry compared to Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, or other hardware companies. By directing consumers to its website in order to buy smartphones – the most-used electronic device for most people – it has built out valuable ecommerce real estate which it can leverage to sell related products. This is something that Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba do not have to the same degree. Meanwhile, by selling smart home products made by third-parties like Huami, it can relieve itself of R&D costs, while still collecting relevant data when users pair devices to their Xiaomi phones or Xiaomi smart home apps.
Other products in Xiaomi’s smart home portfolio include a blood pressure monitor, an air filter, a smart plug, a security camera, and a smart lightbulb. We profiled the makers of the latter device in a recent piece.