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Pre-orders Start For New HomeKit Enabled Mi Hub

The Editor 1 min read

The buzz around the new Mi Hub seems to be accelerating now that the official launch date (for Mainland China) is less than a day away. However, it would seem some stores can’t wait that long, as Banggood.com are now offering the hub as a pre-order item, for a mere US$24.99. The one catch is that shipping for this item will be no earlier than January 30th 2020, so quite a long time after the Chinese release. Still, it’s a good sign that it will be available to consumers outside China, albeit unofficially at present.

If you’ve not been following our coverage of this device over the last six months, this is the successor to the original Mi Hub, with a few major additions or enhancements over the original, along with a couple of missing things as well.

First off the bat is that the hub is compatible with Apple HomeKit, so this is something new for a Mi hub. This essentially means it works in much the same way as the Aqara hub currently does. The original hub connected to your network via wifi, but only communicated with its own child devices via ZigBee. With the updated hub, it still connects to your network in the same manner and also connects to Zigbee devices, but it also features a built-in Bluetooth hub, that also works as a Bluetooth mesh hub. This means that many of the company’s Bluetooth devices are now accessible directly from the hub. This also opens up the possibility that these Bluetooth devices could get exposed to HomeKit in the future.

As the hub also acts as a Bluetooth mesh hub, this means that Yeelights Bluetooth mesh range of lights, which are also compatible with HomeKit, will also be able to work with the hub, even though Yeelight already have announced their own Bluetooth Mesh hub that is also compatible with HomeKit.

As for Zigbee, the hub employs the new Zigbee 3.0 protocol for wider signal coverage, as well as faster response times. All of the forthcoming updated child devices from Aqara and Mijia will utilise ZigBee 3.0 going forward.

You can check out the new hub at Banggood.com now (no affiliate link).

The Editor

Editor - Musician, graphic designer and HomeKit aficionado.

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21 thoughts on “Pre-orders Start For New HomeKit Enabled Mi Hub”

  • Hello,

    Thank you for this article

    Could you tell me what makes this hub different from the new aqara hub that should be sold soon?

    Previously, the only differentiation criterion was the possibility to use HomeKit via the aqara hub, unlike the mijia hub.

    What about now? Why choose the mijia hub over the aqara hub?

    I currently own YEELIGHT bulbs and aqara devices with a mijia hub.

    I wonder which new hub to buy…

    • Hi, the forthcoming Aqara M2 hub and the soon to be released new Mi Hub are almost the same. The main difference is that the Aqara hub has an ethernet port on the back, whereas the new Mi Hub does not, so it still uses a wifi connection. There’s currently very little evidence the Aqara M2 will arrive soon, but I don’t know why there’s a delay to be honest. If you have Aqara Zigbee devices, like the sensors or switches, either the currently available Aqara hub (Chinese, US or EU versions) or this new Mi hub will work with your sensors, and expose them to HomeKit. As regards the Yeelight bulbs, these are wifi, so they don’t require a hub, but if they are 2nd gen colour or tunable white bulbs, you can also add them to HomeKit via either the Yeelight or Mi Home apps.

  • Does it have a speaker ?
    What about a speaker on Aqara hub ?

    • It doesn’t come with a speaker or night light. The Aqara M2 will have a speaker, but no night light.

  • So, this will work also with the current Aqara switches, am I right?

    • It should do, as long as the Aqara devices are also listed in the Mi Home app.

  • Zigbee 3.0 was supposed to be a universal protocol, to make devices work with any Zigbee 3.0 hub. Is that still true? For example, could I connect Hue lights or other brands to this bridge and have “one bridge to rule them all”?

    • Despite the apparent universality of Zigbee 3.0, I can’t see how you would be able to add a Hue bulb to the Mi hub, as you normally have to select a specific device in the Mi Home app’s list of devices.

  • How many devices can be connected

    • Should be 100 as advertised by Aqara

  • The description in Yeelight Sore says that the Number of subdevices is 32.
    I managed to order one from there, they took my money, it will be seen when they will ship.

  • Hi

    Will there be more product information on your site today?

    I still hesitate to take the hub mijia or aqara….

    • There’s a lot of information on the current Aqara hub on the site. There is also a bit of information on the forthcoming Aqara M2. If you’ve got any specific questions, you can ask any time.

  • Hi!!! Do you know if i will be able to connect my shelly 1 to this hub?? I would like to turn on / off my lamp with the aquara portatil switch, and I thought, maybe it can work together (shelly – gateway – portatil switch).

    Thanks

    • I don’t think it will work unless you create automations for them in HomeKit.

  • Hello, I build a smart home with homekit as usual and i have the mi home hub 1gen. I want to change this with a hub to connects to apple homekit. My question is… buy an aqara hub with all the sensors(motion/door window) or to wait for aqara version 2. Even if the mi home hub takes an update to connects to homekit.
    Thank you from Greece

    • Hi, it depends on how soon you want it. If you can wait, the Aqara M2 will probably be worth waiting for, although it still might take a few more months to be released. The new hub will not have the LED light either, so if you want can’t wait, and want the LED light, I suggest buying the current Aqara hub. The Old Mi hub will not get a HomeKit update.

  • Hello, I build a smart home with home kit as usual and I have the mi home hub 1gen. I want to change this with a hub to connects to apple home kit. My question is… buy an aqara hub with all the sensors(motion/door window) or to wait for aqara version 2. Even if the mi home hub takes an update to connects to home kit.
    Thank you from Greece.

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