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Xiaomi has quietly opened crowdfunding for a new home security camera in China, and this one is aiming higher than the usual watch-the-door-and-wait formula. The Smart Camera 4 Max AI Zoom Edition arrives with a sharper focus on detail, smarter tracking, and a fresh push into AI-assisted home monitoring.
During the crowdfunding phase, the camera is priced at 799 yuan, or about $116. Once it reaches retail, Xiaomi says it will cost 999 yuan, roughly $145. That puts it in the sweet spot for buyers who want more than a basic indoor camera without jumping into premium security territory.
Familiar shape, smarter ambitions
At a glance, Xiaomi has not reinvented the wheel. The design will look familiar to anyone who has seen the earlier Smart Camera 4 Zoom Edition. Still, there are a few noticeable changes. The new model comes in a silver-gray finish and now sits on a fabric base, giving it a slightly softer, more home-friendly look.
The real story is inside. Xiaomi has paired a 12MP telephoto lens with an 8MP wide-angle lens, both with an f/1.6 aperture. The result is a camera built for more than just a fixed-room view. It supports 4K monitoring, 12x hybrid zoom, and 3x lossless zoom, which should help when users need to check details instead of just broad motion.
Low-light performance also gets attention. The Smart Camera 4 Max AI Zoom Edition includes full-color night vision, plus a new photography mode designed to capture everyday moments rather than only security alerts. That is a subtle but interesting shift. Xiaomi clearly wants this device to feel less like a sterile surveillance tool and more like a smart part of the home.
The pan-tilt system offers 360-degree horizontal movement and 180-degree vertical coverage, giving the camera wide flexibility around a room. Xiaomi says the motor speeds are 30 percent faster than the C700, which should make tracking feel more responsive. It can follow people and pets too, a feature now common in the smart camera market, but Xiaomi says its version is tuned for more precise detection.
Under the hood, the device runs on a 3T quad-core chip. Xiaomi claims that performance is 300 percent stronger than the C700, suggesting there is enough processing muscle to handle the AI-heavy features without choking on them.
What really separates this model from the crowd, though, is the software. Xiaomi is introducing its first AI care model, built around three key scenarios: children, elderly family members, and pets. That gives the camera a much more personal angle. Instead of simply detecting movement, it can interpret behavior, such as recognizing when a child is studying, and then generate daily reports based on what it sees.
It also supports searching through recorded footage using text or video clues, which could save users from scrubbing through hours of playback. That kind of search function feels especially useful in a packed household, where one small moment can be easy to miss.
Early buyers will get a one-month trial of the AI service. After that, Xiaomi is expected to move it behind a subscription, which is becoming a familiar play across the smart home industry. The hardware may be the hook, but the long-term revenue seems to live in the software.
For now, the Smart Camera 4 Max AI Zoom Edition looks like Xiaomi’s attempt to make home security feel sharper, smarter, and a little more human. And in a market full of nearly identical cameras, that alone gives it an edge.
Comments
Tomas
Wow, my cat would trigger that follow mode nonstop, lol. The search by text sounds insanely useful though, saved me hours once with another cam
mechbyte
12x zoom and AI reports sound cool, but is it even worth the subscription trap? 1 month free then pay, hmm... low light pics might be good tho
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