The Xiaomi H40 pulls ahead on suction and mopping — but costs more

Xiaomi’s vacuum naming doesn’t make the differences obvious — the S40 and H40 look like alphabet soup variants of the same robot — but the spec sheet tells a different story. The H40 brings 4000Pa of suction to the S40’s 3000Pa, which is a meaningful jump if you have carpets or pets. It also upgrades the mopping system with a bigger water tank and better navigation precision.

The S40 is the value play. It cleans fine for small apartments where you’re touching up hardwood or tile, and the lower suction isn’t a handicap when there’s no carpet to dig into. The battery life is shorter, but for a 600-square-foot apartment, that’s irrelevant — it’ll finish before running low.

The real decision comes down to floor type and home size. Carpets and larger layouts tilt toward the H40. Small hard-floor apartments? The S40 does everything you need for less money.