Xiaomi Unveils £8 Fitness Band Aiming To Eat Fitbit's Lunch

The Cheapest (And Best) Fitness Tracker You've Never Heard Of
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A Chinese tech giant has unveiled a fitness tracking wristband which costs - well, a ridiculously low amount of money.

The Xiaomi Mi Band is able to track everything from your steps and calorie consumption, to sleep and a 'smart' alarm.

It costs £8.

That's compared to the price for bands made by Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike which usually retail close to or above £100 -- and more expensive screen-based options like the Samsung Gear, which cost much more.

Xiaomi (pronounced 'Show Me') said that their plastic band would become the best-selling wearable in the world.

What's not clear is exactly when it will be released in the UK -- or if the price will rise when it does.

The device is dust and water resistant, has a month-long battery and can unlock the companies smartphones, which are also winning good reviews for combining apparently iPhone-level design with low costs.

The company's newest phone, the Xiaomi M4, has a 5-inch display (1080P), a quad-core 2.5GHz processor and 3GB of RAM.

While Xiaomi has often been compared to Apple, its true competitors will likely be the Korean tech giants Samsung and LG who have so far cornered much of the lower-cost high-end market in smartphones.