Xiaomi has long made a name for itself in the wearable market and is in fact the world’s leading wearable brand according to Canalys. This is in part thanks to its excellent Mi Smart Band fitness trackers, which have always been hailed as affordable but capable alternatives to Fitbit and others. But until now, Xiaomi has never offered most of its international audience an NFC-equipped version of its fitness tracker. That changes today, as the company announced that it is bringing the Mi Smart Band 6 with NFC to Europe.

Unlike the Chinese version, which is based on a partnership with Alipay, the official European variant is made possible through collaboration with MasterCard. We have yet to determine how exactly payments will be processed and if there are any compatibility limits for banks and other card issuers, but it’s still nice to see Xiaomi finally bring the NFC version to its fitness band. to many more clients after restricting it to principally the Chinese market (Mi Band 4 NFC version arrived in Russia, for example).

The NFC version of the Mi Band 6 also includes a microphone, and in Europe Xiaomi uses it to integrate Amazon Alexa. The Mi Band 6 NFC starts at € 54.90, which is a bit more expensive than its sibling.

Don’t forget to check out our review of the Mi Band 6 without NFC, which is essentially the same device.