Misleading Xiaomi on Mi Band 5: more than a fine, however, comes a caress

In the past few hours, the Chinese authority in charge of monitoring the market has identified one misleading promotion on Mi Band 5. Xiaomi pushed the smart band by saying that it was able to track sleep 24 hours a day, thus implying that it could carry out continuous monitoring. But constantly, in the analysis of sleep, there is little in the opinion of the authorities: Mi Band 5 in fact keeps track of daytime naps provided they exceed 20 minutes, and night rest if it lasts for more than an hour.

As a result, the wording was found to be misleading, there may be continuity only under certain conditions. Curiously, however, the sanction imposed on Xiaomi seems more like a caress than a warning useful to avoid that an incorrectness of this type can be reiterated: the fine amounts to 80,000 yuan which at the current exchange rate is equivalent to just over 11 thousand euros, change for a company that in 2020 has revenue 291 billion yuan then 40 billion euros.

We checked on the Italian portal of the company discovering that even in our parts Mi Band 5 he comes promoted in a technically incorrect way, that is, using the same slogan that originated the sanction in China: “24 hour sleep monitoring”, it is read. Who knows if our authorities are okay with it.

Luckily anyway the same “error” is not repeated in the pages of Xiaomi Mi Band 6 and 6 NFC (here our conclusions after trying them), where on the latest wellness and health accessory there is no mention of numbers that would suggest a continuity of measurement which, in fact, exists only for marketing. We are confident that Xiaomi will soon remedy the oversight also in our part.