Garmin Venu 3 and 3s

@fftest_en has once again broken cover with more info on Garmin’s upcoming Venu 3 and 3s models which should hit the e-shelves in September, perhaps the week before the Apple Watch 9 launch (likely, Wed 13 September for Apple). Earlier info was leaked via the Malaysian regulator SIRIM.

Garmin Venu 3 – Why is it important

The Garmin Venu and Vivoactive lines were the bellwether of Garmin’s intent to dominate the GPS watch market. No one knows how well it fares against the Apple Watch but it is likely having a tough time, yet it will still sell well and Garmin will be relieved to also have excellently selling watches elsewhere in its digital stable like the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro

The importance of a new release of the Fenix and Venu models is that new generations of Garmin tech are likely to be included as well as the inclusion of the latest tech we already know about.

Thus the inclusion of AMOLED screens and the very latest Gen 5 ELEVATE oHR sensor is a certainty as is the inclusion of Garmin’s accurate, SatIQ-enabled Airoha chipset.

What will be your favourite new #Garmin #Venu 3 feature?

— the5krunner (@the5krunner) August 25, 2023

Venu 2 Plus was the first watch that gave us a new tranche of connected audio services over a microphone and speaker combo. Venu 3 will also have this which brings access, kinda, to the Siri/Google Assistant service on your smartphone which must be connected to work – unlike Apple’s implementation of Siri over LTE.

important new product line – Garmin HRM-FIT – Inbound, what is it?

All said I don’t see any new hardware revelations here. These features have already been released on other Garmin watches. Perhaps the only newness will be a larger display for the same case size as happened recently with the Forerunner 965‘s AMOLED screen.

Instead, we will thus probably see significant improvements on the software side of things. I would imagine that means more wellness features and some more Garmin sports physiology metrics. Expect to see improvements to the scope of what Siri/google assistant can do and HOPE also to see some new LTE features. But don’t hold your breath for the last one, Garmin finds LTE VERY hard to do well as it doesn’t sell smartphones that it can integrate tightly with.

Perhaps we will see integration with Wear OS? Probably not but Google has probably been ‘incentivising’ other brands to support Wear OS, so such incentivisation might also stretch to Garmin but Wear OS will likely decimate Garmin’s otherwise excellent battery lives.

Garmin Wear OS Watch – Maybe…maybe not

Uncertainties

Don’t forget that the Venu 2 Plus included ECG functionality (Jan 2022).

There is a high chance that the Venu 3/3s will be ECG-ready. I would bet money that the hardware is able to produce 1-Lead ECG readings although it is FAR from certain that this would be announced at launch as Garmin may have modified its hardware approach to ECG from that on the 2plus model. ECG/EKG is a medical feature and would require specific approvals in the countries where the watch models are sold.

Pricing

Pricing is likely to shift slightly northwards of the VEnu 2 price ($250), perhaps going to $299 with any LTE-enabled version commanding a $150 premium. Price rises are necessitated by inflation but dampened by recessionary factors.

Your thoughts are welcomed. Have I missed anything?