David Cui, Chief Financial Officer at Huami, a Xiaomi backed company, has said that the company will not launch the Mi Band 4 in March/April but “at the right time in the year.”
Highlights:
- Xiaomi Mi Band 4 launch confirmed for 2019.
- A company executive said he is not sure about March-April launch.
- He claimed that Mi Band 3 is still a hot selling wearable.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 will launch in 2019, a Huami executive has confirmed. Speaking on the Xiaomi-backed Huami Corporation’s fourth quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer David Cui said that he doubts the wearable will lauch in March-April but confirmed that the next iteration is in the pipeline to launch this year. He also said that the fitness tracker will come with new features.
“For Mi Band 4, it's going to be in this year. It will be in 2019. But I'm not sure, it's going to be in March and April. But, it is going to be in this year. Each generation we learn something, we always do better. And Mi Band 3, you can take a look at 2018's volume…it's really much better as compared to previous version. So we expect Mi Band 4 will have similar trend. So once we launch Mi Band 4, we expect that product will sell well,” Cui said on the earnings call (see transcription here)
Huami, which covers the Amazfit line of devices including – Amazfit Bip, Amazfit Stratos and Amazfit Cor 2, grew revenues by 78 percent in 2018. The revenue was “propelled primarily by the strong sales of Amazfit's smartwatches and the Mi Band 3” that were launched last year. “Right now, Mi Band 3 is still hot sale. The margin and the shipments are not shrinking. So we will work with Xiaomi to pick the right time to launch Mi Band 4 in the year,” Cui added.
Market research firm International Data Corporation reported a strong growth in the worldwide wearable market led by holiday shipments of smartwatches, wrist Bands, and ear-worn devices. “Smartwatches grew 54.3 percent and accounted for 29.8 percent of all wearable device (including ear-worn devices) shipments in 2018. Apple accounted for nearly half the market and followed by a long list of companies that posted double- and triple-digit growth. What resulted from this was a growing list of devices available at multiple price-points to meet the needs of a diverse market,” said Ramon T. Llamas, Research Director for IDC's Wearables.
Apple currently offers Apple Watch Series 3, Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Nike+, and Apple Watch Hermès. While Apple garnered 27.4 percent market share, Xiaomi came a distant second with 12.6 percent. Xiaomi's Mi Band 3 alone accounted for over 30 percents of all wristbands shipped during the fourth quarter of 2018.
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