It’s been three years since Google bought Fitbit. Since then, the company has released three new smartwatches, including one under the Pixel brand Pixel Watch 3 hour today’s Made By Google event. Meanwhile, Fitbit hasn’t launched a single new smartwatch since the event The announcement of Sense 2 and Versa 4 two years ago. The writing has been on the wall for years that Fitbit won’t be able to produce more smartwatches, instead focusing on long-running low-profile activity trackers. Engadget can confirm that the progress is indeed true.
In an interview with Sandeep Waraich, senior director of product management for Pixel Wearables, I asked if we’d see another Fitbit-branded smartwatch anytime soon. “Pixel Watch is the smartwatch part of our portfolio,” Waraich said. He confirmed that moving forward, Fitbit will focus on the more minimalist, long-term trackers that have become synonymous with the brand.
While the Sense 2 and Versa 4 will continue to be available, a Google spokesperson said, “Pixel watches are the next iteration of smartwatches for Fitbit.”
As for the devices Fitbit continues to make, “trackers are where users are clearly telling us they want something discreet,” Waraich said. “They want longer battery life, they want a simple experience, and we’re very proud of our Inspire line.”
Waraich also shed light on how the Google and Fitbit teams collaborated to create the Pixel watches, citing the former’s AI capabilities and the latter’s established expertise in interpreting heart rate sensor data for broader insights. Google brought its expertise in machine learning, he said, providing “advanced models that are otherwise not readily available overseas.” Fitbit, of course, had deep knowledge about things like data and signal capture and how that translates to how your hands move or what you do. “HIIT has a very different heart rate algorithm [and] It’s more effective than jogging,” explained Waraich.
There’s no doubt that the Fitbit brand will remain valuable to Google and the industry as a whole, as the name is basically an all-encompassing name for activity trackers. While the Fitbit name and app are hard to see on devices like the Pixel Watch, where integrations should be more seamless and unified, Waraich told me, “it’s not an app on the Pixel Watch. It’s deeply integrated at the system level.”
Outside of the Pixel portfolio, the Fitbit app and Fitbit Premium are both still available to a large portion of the population that wants something simple to help them maintain their overall health. With trackers and Pixel watches now becoming devices that can record your activity very well, Waraich said, “There’s a huge opportunity in terms of moving from tracking to coaching, which includes real-time guidance.”
Everyone’s favorite word and trending time for 2024: AI. With the Pixel Watch 3, Fitbit Premium users can get personalized workouts created by artificial intelligence based on their activity and recovery. Of all the features Fitbit Premium has offered (and paywalled) in the past, this feels like the most appropriate use of AI and paying for it. Fitbit and Fitbit Premium are unlikely to go away, and while we may never see a Fitbit-branded smartwatch again, it feels like a smart move.
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