Honor Watch X5i Launched in Nepal: Does It Live Up to the Rugged X Series Name?

Besides smartphones, HONOR in Nepal doesn’t really have a strong footing in the accessories space. But it looks like they’re trying to change that, cause just this month they brought in two TWS earphones, the Earbuds A Pro and the X10 Lite, along with a new smartwatch, the Honor Watch X5i.

The earbuds fall in the upper budget category, right where there seems to be little to no competition. It looks like Honor is definitely choosing their battles carefully here.

There aren’t a lot of watches from Honor, even globally. As of 2026, they’ve so far only sold about 15 smartwatches. As for the X series specifically, there have only been two so far: the Watch X5 and the new Watch X5i.

If you’re familiar with the X series smartphones from Honor, they’re advertised to handle crazy drops and offer crazy high battery life and endurance. Is that the same story with their watches, or is that reputation staying strictly with the phones? Let’s find out.

Honor Watch X5i Overview

The Honor Watch X5i features a square design. Personally, square watches have always felt a bit less premium to me than circular ones. But then again, most Apple Watches, which are way more premium, are square too. So I guess that’s just me.

Speaking of Apple Watches, the Honor Watch X5i looks a lot like one, with its rotating crown and a side button placed right below it. And with a quick-release strap mechanism on top of that, the resemblance is honestly uncanny.

While the design may feel premium-inspired, the build quality definitely isn’t. It’s fully plastic and can only survive 1ATM of water pressure. So, I’d avoid swimming with it. However, it does carry an IP68 ingress rating, so that’s a nice bit of reassurance.

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The watch is also really lightweight, coming in at just 28g and is just 10.9mm slim. At least according to HONOR. But I don’t think anything close to 11mm really counts as thin, and for users with a thinner wrist, the watch could end up feeling a bit bulky.

The watch comes in some fairly monotonous colors, just Black and White.

For navigation, there’s a 1.97-inch AMOLED screen. It’s also a 60Hz display, so scrolling and navigation should feel smooth.

Though one complaint I have about the display is that while Honor mentions the bezels are just 2.0mm thin, they aren’t symmetrical, and it does look a bit cheap up close. But it is a budget watch, so I’ll let it slide.

On the sensor and connectivity front, the Watch X5i comes with a heart rate sensor, SpO2 monitoring, and an accelerometer, along with Bluetooth 5.4 for connectivity. It’s compatible with both Android 9.0 and above, as well as iOS 15.1 or later. So most users shouldn’t run into any pairing issues regardless of which phone they’re on.

The battery is rated at 420mAh, and Honor claims up to 21 hours of battery life, though whether that’s under heavy or light use isn’t mentioned. They have, however, mentioned a 3-week battery life on a single charge. To charge it, there’s a magnetic USB cable included right in the box.

It supports a remote shutter and torch mode, which, to be honest, isn’t much of a game changer since almost every other budget watch offers the same thing these days. What is genuinely impressive, though, is that it supports Bluetooth calling. You can dial and take calls directly from the Watch X5i without needing to pull out your phone.

Beyond that, you also get 24/7 health monitoring, multiple sports modes, sleep tracking, a menstrual cycle calendar, and guided breathing exercises. Again, none of this is groundbreaking, but it does round out the package into something usable day-to-day.

Honor Watch X5i Specifications

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Overall, the Honor Watch X5i is a decent enough budget smartwatch, but it doesn’t quite carry over what makes Honor’s X series smartphones stand out. Durability here just isn’t up to par with what we’re used to seeing from Honor’s X series phones: no drop certification, no serious drop resistance claims, and just a 1ATM water rating on a watch that’s supposed to share that rugged DNA.

Comparing it to the Redmi Watch 6 Active, the two are honestly very close on paper. Both offer a similar display size, comparable battery life, Bluetooth calling, and even the quick-release strap mechanism, so that’s not really a differentiator either way.

Where the Watch X5i does pull ahead is pricing. At Rs. 8,999, it undercuts the Redmi Watch 6 Active by Rs. 2,000 while matching it feature for feature. So if durability and brand toughness aren’t your top priority, and you’re just after a solid, well-rounded budget smartwatch, the Watch X5i makes a genuinely strong case for itself simply by being the more affordable option.

What are your thoughts on the Honor Watch X5i? Let us know in the comments below!