Chinese Supercloner Xiaomi Expected To Release A Fitness Tracker

Watch out, Fitbit. Xiaomi is firing up its photocopiers again.

Xiaomi makes the best cheap gadgets available. The company started out cloning existing gadgets, but has since moved on to designing and developing its own wares. And selling them dirt cheap. The company already sells several smartphones and a streaming TV device.

Now reports state that company will soon release a fitness tracker.

Xiaomi released its first smartphone in 2011 and has since gained a small, but exploding marketshare in mainland China thanks to its low-cost selling strategy. Xiaomi’s products are cheap. Reports state that its fitness tracker could cost as little as 199 Yuan (about $32) in China.

White label fitness trackers are readily available on bulk seller sites like Alibaba where they can cost as low as $5 a unit. Xiaomi has never been known to release products with innovative feature sets. The company will likely be able to undercut established companies like Fitbit and Jawbone by selling a similar, basic fitness tracker while still making a healthy margin.

Xiaomi saw revenue of $5.22 billion USD in 2013.

Don’t expect to see Xiaomi’s latest phones or this fitness tracker in oversaturated markets like the US, though. The company is wisely focusing on developing regions where low price tags are more important than brands. It recently announced an international expansion that includes selling devices in India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and in several east Asian countries and emerging markets later this year.

IMAGE BY Bloomberg