To celebrate its 10th anniversary, PlayStation China teamed up with Xiaomi to release a limited-edition Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro, with a special watch band that shows the iconic PlayStation controller icons. Meanwhile, U.S.-based PS5 owners should get ready for that jealous FOMO feeling because these kinds of limited-edition launches never seem to make it outside of Asia.
The Weibo post (via Android Authority) explains that one lucky user who shares the post will be sent the box. However, it’s fair to assume that Sony will also sell this limited-edition fitness tracker more widely to other Chinese fans.
We don’t know how else the Sony-themed Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro differs from the normal version, aside from the cool watch strap; maybe it comes with unique software that pairs with your PS5 or Sony-themed watch faces.
We likely will never find out, as this 10th anniversary is unique to China — Sony just celebrated its 30th anniversary globally — and Xiaomi’s trackers don’t always release globally. Either way, a $100 fitness tracker may not have enough cool tricks for even PlayStation superfans to give up their current Apple or Android watches.
If most people will never have the chance to buy this device, why cover the news at all? Because it gives me a chance to get back on my soapbox about an issue that’s disappointed me for years: How all the “Special Edition” phones, watches, and other nerd-branded accessories never seem to be available in the United States.
Licensing fees stop us from letting our nerd flags fly
Android phones have a surprising number of limited editions. OnePlus, in particular, has targeted major nerd fandoms with a Star Wars-themed OnePlus 5T, Avengers-themed OnePlus 6, and even old-school Pac-Man fans with the Nord 2.
The trend has died out somewhat in recent years. Samsung, for example, sold a Galaxy Note 10 Plus Star Wars Edition and a Galaxy S20 Plus BTS Edition, but nerds have been hung dry for recent generations like the Galaxy S25. Still, Chinese brands like TECNO and POCO announced a Bumblebee Edition and Iron Man Edition of their new phones in January 2025, so the practice is alive and well.
Why do these phones rarely make it stateside? In my 2022 rant on limited-edition phones, I explained how the few brands that can break into the Apple and Samsung-dominated U.S. tech market can’t afford the licensing fees here. For whatever reason, selling an Iron Man phone in China is affordable, while it’s all but impossible in the U.S.
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In an ideal world, we’d see more tech — or at least official accessories — that let your geek flag fly, whether as a gamer, comic book nerd, sci-fi fanatic, or anything else. Your typical smartwatch is much too compact to show a unique design, but an exclusive strap and watch faces — like Sony’s PlayStation-themed band for Xiaomi — would easily work.
If Sony can partner with Xiaomi to make a PlayStation-themed watch band, why not Apple or Samsung? Both brands sell dozens of watch straps in different colors, but we never see anything official with that kind of brand synergy. And that same logic could apply to all manner of other major brands, with fanbases that would snap up limited-edition tech in a second.
At least you can usually find a phone case with your favorite character on it. But that never seems to apply to watch bands, and I wish that along with all the bands focused on style, athletics, or comfort, we had more bands focused on fun!
I don’t want something too kitschy or garish, but I can imagine other nerdy logos in place of those PlayStation buttons, like the Rebel Alliance crest or Starfleet badge, that could look neat attached to your smartwatch. And if you ever needed to look more serious for an event, you could always swap out your band for a more fashionable and subtle one.
The bigger priority right now is making sure that your watch band isn’t toxic, obviously. But hey, giving us nerds more fun watch band options is a great incentive to make us throw out our old bands and try something new!