China-based Huami, a main ODM of Xiaomi's smart wrist bands and weight scales, launched its own-brand smartwatch, Amazfit, in Europe and US in September 2016 and has since sold over one million units, and will expand into the Asia Pacific region, especially Indonesia and India, company founder, chairman and CEO Huang Wang has told Digitimes.

Since smartwatches are mainly used in sports activities and there are large sports populations in Europe and the US, Huami initially focused marketing in the two regions, Huang said.

There is large market potential for smart wearables that feature sports and health care applications, NFC-based e-payment and entrance control, Huang noted.

For health care, smart wearables will widely support sensing of blood pressure, blood glucose and blood SpO2 (pulse oximetry) over the next three years, Huang indicated. In addition to sensing of heart rates, Huami has launched an Amazfit smart band with electrocardiogram sensing.

Demand for smart wearables took off in 2014, but application to health care was limited then because development of AI (artificial intelligence) was not mature yet, Huang explained. Due to much progress in development of algorithm and big data analysis, smart wearables will generally support health care applications, Huang said.

For sports activities, Huami will focus on use of sensing data, Huang noted. Apart from the Xiaomi Mi Band and Huami Amazfit smartwatch, Huami plans to develop smart running shoes, garments and glasses equipped with biometric sensors, Hunag said, adding Huami just acquired Zepp International, a US-based provider of multi-sports sensing technology and training analytics.

With shipments of 4.5 million smartwatches and bands, Huami recorded consolidated revenues of CNY760.1 million (US$114.9 million), gross margin of 25.9%, net operating profit of CNY85.5 million and net profit of CNY101.6 million for second-quarter 2018.