The Xiaomi Mi Band 5 has been officially announced, and will go on sale in China on 18 June, costing ¥229, which is around £25. And the Xiaomi has officially confirmed there will be a global release date in July 2020.

The long-awaited fitness tracker was always going to be released in China first, and the company has timed the launch for a big e-commerce shopping holiday. But it hasn't left us to wonder when the Mi Band 5 will get a global release, and hit US and UK shores.

The Mi Band 5 goes head-to-head with the Fitbit Inspire HR at less than half the price, and against upstarts like the Oppo Band and Realme Band.

There's also a non-NFC Band 5 as well, which will cost ¥189 (£20).

Xiaomi Mi Band 5: Confirmed specs and features

Much anticipated, the fifth-gen Mi Band packs in a lot of the purported features that have been doing the rounds on the rumor-mill for the past few weeks, including a 1.1-inch, 126x294 AMOLED display (450 nits brightness), magnetic charging, sleep analysis, heart rate monitoring and female cycle tracking.

There's no sign of Alexa on board, as was touted, although that rumor did mention that would only be on the international version and, at present, it's a China-only device.

However, the signs are good as there is voice functionality, courtesy of Xiao Ai, on the NFC version, thanks to a built-in microphone.

There's a bigger focus on sports tracking this time around with 11 new modes on offer including yoga, rowing machines and skipping. There are also - Xiaomi's words, not ours - "shaping and fat-reducing" features as well.

Over the past few weeks we've seen supposed leaked pictures and renders of the next-gen Mi Band (many of which have proved to be nonsense) but now we can see the new tracker in all of its glory.

The design follows the Mi Band 4 closely, but houses an improved 1.1-inch screen – which its makers are saying allows for 20% more visibility compared to the Mi Band 4.

There are eight silicon bands to choose from and further personalisation comes from more than 100 built-in themes; including the likes of SpongeBob, Evangelion, Hatsune Miku, and Detective Conan.

We're told that battery life, from the new magnetic charger, is 14 days on the NFC model, 20 days on the standard one. It's waterproof to 50m, so would make an excellent swimming companion.

As mentioned, you can pre-order now in China, directly from Xiaomi - with shipping starting on 18 June. We eagerly await news on the international version and will, of course, update you as soon as we hear anything.

What we haven't seen?

So what haven't we seen from the Mi Band 5?

Well, as yet there's been no mention of the SpO2 sensor, nor stress tracking which was among the leaks – so we'll assume these features didn't make the cut.

Amazon Alexa has been rumored, but that would never have made a Chinese release, so the jury is still out on that one.