Huami Advances 'Device + Chip + Cloud' Strategy to Focus on Global Digital Health Ecosystem

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on December 3, Huami Technology (NYSE: HMI) held its 2019 Strategic Media Communication Conference in Beijing.

At the conference, Huang Wang, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Huami Technology, announced that the “Device + Chip + Cloud” strategy has been fully implemented. He also unveiled the company’s mission, “Technology Connecting Health,” stating that its future vision is dedicated to building a global health ecosystem and becoming the most trusted partner for users.

At the conference, Huami Technology announced a partnership with US-based AliveCor to jointly expand the market for medical-grade electrocardiogram (ECG) services in developed countries across Europe and North America. Meanwhile, Huami’s Global Innovation Center signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Peking University First Hospital to jointly promote cardiac health management programs in China.

Huang Wang first reviewed Huami’s achievements in 2019: As of August 27, 2019, global shipments of smart devices exceeded 100 million units. Total shipments in the first three quarters of 2019 reached 27.6 million, surpassing the full-year 2018 figure of 27.5 million; revenue for the first nine months amounted to RMB 3.7 billion, also exceeding the full-year revenue of the previous year.

In terms of products, the Xiaomi Mi Band 4, released in the summer of 2019, achieved global shipments of over one million units within just eight days, setting a new record for the series.

Following a series of new product launches, Huang Wang stated that Huami’s AMAZFIT smartwatch portfolio has expanded from its original three major series—smart sports watches, basic smartwatches, and flagship smartwatches—to a total of six series, now including health watches, fashion smartwatches, and the X Series.

He explained that the reason for building a massive “watch factory” with 15 models and 39 SKUs available for sale is that watches inherently possess decorative attributes, leading to diverse user needs. As a company consistently focused on the smart wearable sector, Huami has both the capability and the responsibility to meet these varied customer demands.

This market recognition has been rewarded by consumers: in the third quarter of this year, AMAZFIT smartwatch shipments exceeded one million units for the first time. During this year’s Double 11 shopping festival, Huami’s AMAZFIT brand claimed 19 sales championships across Tmall and JD.com, two major e-commerce platforms, cementing its status as the undisputed leader in the sub-1,000-yuan smartwatch segment.

In terms of chips, Huami Technology’s self-developed “Huangshan No. 1” chip has also entered mass production this year and been applied to multiple Amazfit-branded watches and fitness bands, including the current flagship product, the Amazfit Smart Watch 2 ECG Edition. Empowered by the “Huangshan No. 1” chip, this product has become the only smartwatch globally capable of competing with the Apple Watch in terms of ECG (electrocardiogram) monitoring functionality. In addition, Huami hasHas successively invested in two star RISC-V startups, SiFive and GreenWaves, actively engage in the research and development of cutting-edge chip technologies on the international frontier.

As the installed base and shipment volume of smart devices continue to rise, Huami has become the world's largestHumanPhysical Exercise and Health Big Data CompanyAs of September 30, 2019, Huami had recorded a total of 7 billion nights of sleep and 21.1 billion hours of heart rate monitoring; cumulative ECG recordings reached 14.89 million, with nearly 70,000 cases initially screened for atrial fibrillation or suspected atrial fibrillation.

Supported by powerful AI algorithms and an elite team of medical experts (over 90% of whom hold master’s or doctoral degrees in medicine), Huami Technology has successfully launched the Mi Health VIP service, thereby achieving the comprehensive implementation of its “Device + Chip + Cloud” strategy.

At the press conference, Huang Wang officially announced that“Technology Connects Health”Established as the corporate mission.

Health has always been the original aspiration of Huami Technology. Starting with the Mi Band 1, step counting and sleep monitoring features were introduced; the Mi Band 2 further incorporated heart rate monitoring; since then,Amazfit Mi Band Health Introduces ECG Analysis FeatureIt also preceded Apple by one year, while “Huangshan 1” is a wearable AI chip truly designed for health.

In fact, a research report by Morgan Stanley also shows that in 2017, the global health market was six times the size of the smartphone market; the U.S. health market alone was three times the size of the global smartphone market. Giants such as Apple and Google both regard health as one of the most important strategic directions for their future.

In Huang Wang’s view, smartwatches are not merely a simple substitute or replica of smartphones; rather, they represent an evolution. Due to their close proximity to the user, smartwatches offer superior capabilities in certain areas compared to smartphones. They are poised to become a new gateway to health management and a core variable driving the development and breakthroughs of the entire health industry.

Regarding why he did not participate in the Xiaomi Watch project, Huang Wang stated,Huami will build upon its health-focused strategy, continuously seeking maximum business and strategic synergies within the Xiaomi ecosystem, agreeing to disagree while striving for a win-win outcome.

He also clarified that the strategic cooperation between Huami and Xiaomi has never involved any so-called exclusive or exclusivity agreements; it is essentially a matter of mutual choice. Huami remains a key member enterprise of the Xiaomi ecosystem, stating, “We are intensively developing the Mi Band 5.”

Regarding the successor to “Huangshan No. 1,” Huang Wang revealed that “Huangshan No. 2” has completed its overall design and is scheduled for mass production in 2020.

Although he declined to disclose specific details and parameters, he stated that the chip will support more intelligent and health-related features and will be deployed in a wider range of smartwatches.

At the press conference, Huami Technology also announced the signing of a strategic cooperation memorandum with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Peking University First Hospital.

Li Jianping, Director of the Department of Cardiology at Peking University Hospital and Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, stated in his speech that wearable devices areIn Full-Lifecycle Health/Disease Management, can play an important role; in the future, both parties will jointly conduct research on validating the diagnostic accuracy of wearable devices in patients with arrhythmia, assessing and warning of population-level cardiovascular risk based on data from wearable devices, and establishing an integrated online-offline process for disease prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment relying on wearable devices.

Previously, Huami collaborated with the Department of Cardiology at Peking University First Hospital to conduct a clinical study involving 401 patients, using 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) as the gold standard. The study demonstrated that the accuracy of atrial fibrillation detection using the ECG and photoplethysmography (PPG) functions of Amazfit smart wearable devices was 94.76% and 93.27%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of these monitoring capabilities were largely consistent with the manual interpretations performed by professional physicians.

Huami also announced a strategic partnership with U.S.-based AliveCor to launch medical-grade ECG monitoring and diagnostic services for markets in developed countries across Europe and the United States.

JY Lee (Li Zhuyan), Vice President of Global Sales and Asia-Pacific Operations at AliveCor, stated in his address that the company’s ECG solutions have received FDA clearance and are widely recognized in clinical practice. Currently, AliveCor has established extensive collaborations with leading medical institutions such as the Mayo Clinic in areas including clinical research, algorithm development, and AI training data.

On the device front, Huang Wang also stated that Huami’s future smart wearable products will not be limited to watches and bands but will include entirely new categories. At next month’s CES International Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, Huami Technology may well unveil some surprises.