Xiaomi unveiled its latest high-end smartphone, Mi 4, describing it as the “fastest Mi phone ever”, as it also showcased its take on the fitness band.

Underlining its premium position, Mi 4 has a stainless steel frame.

It is powered by a 2.5GHz quadcore Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, with 3GB of RAM. It has a 5-inch HD (1080) display, 13MP rear and 8MP front camera, and 16GB or 64GB memory.

Some critics pointed out that the device is only an incremental upgrade over the Mi 3, which is powered by a 2.3GHz quadcore Snapdragon 800 chip, has 2GB of RAM, 5-inch 1080 display and 13MP main camera.

Earlier speculation had suggested the new Mi device may move to a 5.5-inch screen with QHD (2K) display, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor.

Pricing for the 16GB version will be CNY1,999 ($322), putting it on a par with the Mi 3 at launch.

The company also announced its first foray into the wearables space, the Mi Band, priced at “an amazing price of CNY79 ($13).”

The price is the stand-out feature, taking into account that similar bands such as Fitbit are priced closer to $100 (Fitbug’s Orb is $50).

Mi BandMi Band is described as a “fitness monitor and sleep tracker”, with sleep-cycle smart alarm, and can be used to unlock a smartphone without a password.

It has 30 days of standby power, is water resistant, and will be available in multiple colours.

In a presentation, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO, also highlighted the momentum the company is seeing. Sales volumes have increased from 7.9 million (Mi 1 series) to 17.2 million for Mi 2, to 17.9 million for the low-cost Redmi.

Mi 3, which was announced in September 2013 and is still available as part of the line, has shipped 10.5 million, and the Redmi Note phablet, announced in March this year, is at 4.3 million.

A new version of its MIUI version of the Android platform has also been promised for 16 August.

It said it has around 65 million MIUI users which, taking into account sales of its own-brand devices, means it has been installed on around seven million devices from other vendors.