While much of the tech world’s attention has focused on artificial intelligence in 2024, smartwatches and fitness trackers are becoming increasingly important to our daily lives. Now that we’ve hit the halfway point of the year, it’s time to look back at 2024’s biggest smartwatch launches to date — and what’s to come in the next six months.
Whether it’s new software features like watchOS 11 or Polar’s big Vantage 3 update, or brand new hardware like the OnePlus Watch 2, smartwatch makers have been hard at work this year.
This makes it hard to keep up, so we’ve rounded up all the biggest smartwatch releases you should know about this year – followed by the most exciting ones we’re expecting. land in the next six months.
Thinking about buying a new smartwatch? Read on for a tour of this year’s HIIT style highlights to help you decide on your action plan…
Smartwatches in 2024: what have been the biggest innovations of the year so far?
With some big releases still expected in the near future (more on those soon), 2024 looks like a busy year for smartwatches.
March saw the release of the Garmin Forerunner 165, a much more affordable smartwatch from a company that has taken the industry by storm in recent years. Despite the lower price tag, it’s still a great-looking device with an AMOLED display and 13-day battery life – read our Garmin Forerunner 165 review for an in-depth look at its strengths and weaknesses.
Speaking of cheaper options, we’ve already seen two fantastic contenders for our list of the best cheap fitness trackers – the Honor Band 7 and the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro – if you want something more minimalistic than a smartwatch. The former has great battery life and a nice big, bright AMOLED panel, but lacks built-in GPS. The latter adds GPS support and costs $99.99 / £60 / US$95 (although it’s possible to find it for much less).
Back to smartwatches and the undoubted Wear OS highlight of the year was the OnePlus Watch 2 (below). It landed a few months ago and has already made its way into our best smartwatches guide. In our OnePlus Watch 2 review, we called it the “comeback king” because of its full functionality with Google Wear OS, sleek looks, and excellent dual-frequency GPS tracking.
Are you looking for an alternative to Garmin that is fitness first and smartwatch second? The new Suunto Race is a much better smartwatch effort from the Finnish company. It’s a premium device that, despite some UX quirks, is worth checking out — and it’s cheaper than its competitors. Check out our Sunnto Race review for our full verdict.
Finally, Samsung gave us a little taste of what’s to come in 2024 with the surprise launch of the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE in June. It’s Samsung’s answer to the Apple Watch SE and costs $199 for the Bluetooth-only model (no international pricing yet, but that equates to around £160 / AU$300). The LTE version, meanwhile, will set you back $249 (about £190 / $360).
You can read our first thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE, but our attention will soon turn to the likely launch of its more expensive siblings…
Smartwatches in 2024: what launches can we expect in the rest of the year?
We’ve seen a lot of good smartwatches this year, but the “big three” are yet to show their hand. That’s about to change.
Big starts are coming…
Samsung is expected to launch its Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 very soon, most likely at the next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event on July 10. As is often the case, most of the details leaked ahead of time.
Expect a 3nm chipset and AI-focused features, as well as improved health sensors. Samsung is also expected to introduce a higher-end Galaxy Watch Ultra this year with better battery life, a new color scheme and the potential for a larger display.
What about the current king of our best smartwatch guide, Apple? Like death and taxes, we expect a new Apple Watch model this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the unveiling of the product line.
The sources can’t fully understand what it will look like or what it will offer, but the Apple Watch 10 (or Apple Watch X, as it’s also called) is expected to have a slightly larger display. It may not come with a blood oxygen sensor, but we’ll cover that soon.
An Apple Watch Ultra 3 has also been discussed, but it looks like upgrades could be thin after the reportedly planned microLED was scrapped.
Finally, Google’s Pixel Watch 3 is likely to be unveiled at the recently announced event in August and could be bigger than its predecessor. This gives us hope for more sensors or at least a bigger battery.
Smart watches in 2024: what other news did you miss?
Remember when we said blood oxygen monitoring might not be part of Apple’s 2024 lineup? That’s because the company was barred from selling its wearables late last year due to a dispute between Apple and Masimo, a company that claims it has a patent on blood oxygen sensor technology like the one in the Apple Watch.
While the ban has been lifted, the legal battle continues, so it’s unlikely that Apple will make a big deal about the sensor at its expected event in September. While things may change by then, it remains to be seen whether it will add the sensor but leave it dormant until the next software update or remove it altogether.
Speaking of software updates, WWDC brought new Apple Watch features with watchOS 11. Expect a new Vitals app to measure any potential deviation from your body’s standard data points, as well as a training load to finally help you work out when it’s best to rest your day . Finally, you can also put your Apple Fitness rings on hold and use your Apple Watch to track your pregnancy (yes, really).
Things are not so positive for owners of older Samsung fitness trackers, as the manufacturer recently confirmed that it will end support for Tizen-based models. Basically, if your Galaxy Watch is older than the Galaxy Watch 4, there’s a good chance it’s going away, with content support slowing down until September 30th next year, when support officially ends.
Finally, the OnePlus Watch 2 we mentioned earlier has an impressive difference in offering two operating systems on the same device. Both Wear OS 4 and the RTOS run on their own chips, and the device switches between them as needed. OnePlus calls this “dual engine architecture,” and as we mentioned earlier, it’s made the Watch 2 one of the best releases of the year.