Xiaomi has moved from a little startup to one of the biggest tech giants in the world in a matter of just a few years. The meteoric rise of the Chinese company started with an idea that quality products could be provided for a much lower price than the big guys were offering it, and the company still holds fast to that mantra today. That mantra has certainly lead up to some serious success so far this year as the company has been seeing constant growth with no signs of slowing down. While many are salivating over the possibility of a brand new flagship coming from the company in just a few days, today Xiaomi is launching a brand new product in a category they haven’t yet entered: shoes.
In partnership with Chinese shoe giant Li-Ning, Xiaomi will be providing sensors for Li-Ning’s new Smart Shoes. These sensors do probably exactly what you would expect them to do given the product they’re in. The sensors feature things like a pedometer for tracking steps as well as a suite of other sensors for estimating things like calorie burning count and other fitness data related to your daily walks or runs. As is also expected the Li-Ning Smart Shoes are able to connect to other smart devices like a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. There will be two different models of Li-Ning Smart shoes, both of which contain the same Xiaomi smart chipset and retail for 399 Yuan or 199 Yuan depending on your choice.
Both models of shoes are also waterproof, sweatproof and are able to withstand quite a bit of pressure too. These are rated for over a year of heavy usage and the chips are designed to last the lifetime of the shoe, meaning all the smart features of the shoes will be there until you’re ready to toss them. Given the incredibly cheap price of the shoes, especially the cheaper model, this is a fantastic value for what you’re getting and an industry first as well. Both models go on sale in China on July 20th, so only a few days away from now. While it’s questionable whether or not this will provide more or better fitness data than all the other devices we have, it’s yet another alternative way to track your daily stats.
