Xiaomi has long made a name for itself in the apparel market and, in fact, is the leading clothing brand in the world according to Canalys. This is in part thanks to their excellent Mi Smart Band fitness trackers, which have always been praised as affordable but capable alternatives to Fitbit and others. But so far, Xiaomi has never blessed the majority of the international public with an NFC-equipped version of its fitness tracker. That changes today, as the company has announced that it will bring the Mi Smart Band 6 with NFC to Europe.
In contrast to the Chinese version, which is based on a partnership with Alipay, the official European variant is possible thanks to a collaboration with MasterCard. We still need to know exactly how payments will be processed and whether there are compatibility limits on banks and other card issuers, but it’s still great to see Xiaomi finally bring the NFC version of its fitness band to many more customers after restrict them to above all the Chinese market (the NFC version of Mi Band 4 did arrive in Russia, for example).
The NFC version of the Mi Band 6 also includes a microphone, and in Europe, Xiaomi uses it to integrate Amazon Alexa. The Mi Band 6 NFC starts at € 54.90, a little more expensive than its brother.
Be sure to check out our review of the Mi Band 6 without NFC, which is essentially the same device.
