Xiaomi made a $150 rice cooker that you can control with your phone

Xiaomi’s latest smart home product is a $150 rice cooker that you can control with your phone. Dubbed the Mi Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker, the product is the first from Xiaomi’s Mi Ecosystem sub-brand, which will house all the smart appliances made by the vendor.

Xiaomi dabbles in more than phones and tablets, with the vendor collaborating with other brands to produce water purifiers, air purifiers, blood pressure monitors, and a Segway clone called Ninebot. The Mi Rice Cooker features Wi-Fi, and connects to your phone through a dedicated app. It can also differentiate between 200 kinds of rice, with over 2,450 heating methods available to ensure that the rice is always cooked to perfection:

Users can scan their pack of rice to identify the type of rice, brand and origin, and based on that, the rice cooker can adjust its heating methodology to best suit the type of rice. It currently supports more than 200 brands of rice, and this will be expanded in the future.

There’s also a magnetic relief valve that regulates the pressure, and the lining is made out of grey cast iron. PFA powder coating at the bottom prevents the rice sticking to the cooker. The Mi Rice Cooker will go on sale from April 6 for ¥999 ($154), which according to Xiaomi is one-fourth the price of a high-end cooker.

Who’s interested?