Fitbit Watches Are Dead – No Sense 3 and Versa 5

TL;DR – Pixel is Google’s only future watch format. The Fitbit brand will continue with lower-end trackers and software.

The Story: Background, no waffle.

Sandeep Waraich is Google’s senior director of product management. He told Engadget, “Pixel Watch is our smartwatch part of the portfolio…Pixel Watches are our next iteration of smartwatch for Fitbit.”

In a subsequent clarification to TechRadar, Google stated

We are very committed to Fitbit, and even more importantly to the customers that use and depend on those products and technology. It’s also worth noting that many of the health and fitness features we launched in Pixel Watch 3 were because of Fitbit’s innovation and ground-breaking fitness advancements. In addition, we just launched Fitbit Ace LTE, and you’ll continue to see new products and innovation from Fitbit.

There are various other bits of PR waffle. Lots of words that say nothing of substance. None of which indicate a future for Sense or Versa.

Why Will the Fitbit Brand Continue in Trackers?

Whatever you might think of Fitbit products and ecosystem, the brand name was synonymous with fitness trackers. It retains high levels of recognition and is generally very well-loved at the lower end of the fitness market – ie for band-format trackers. It makes some sense to keep the Fitbit brand going there.

Even though the band-format end of the market might be in decline it is still large, representing an opportunity to keep a large number of people on their Android phones (Fitbit also works on iOS).

Why Ditch the Fitbit Brand on Watches?

I’m not sure about this one. Google effectively replaced the Fitbit brand on watches with its existing Pixel brand. In years gone by the Fitbit brand had a vastly superior image and recognition.

Pixel was always a high-end product. I would guess that Google only plans to compete in the upper part of the Wear OS space alongside Samsung Galaxy. Perhaps Google believes the Pixel brand is better placed for that. Looking at watches in isolation Google has probably made a mistake, however, Google probably sees the Pixel brand in conjunction with its smartphones and, I guess, it does make sense to have one brand for its upper-end products somewhat like Samsung Galaxy.

Should I Bin My Versa 4 or Sense 2?

A: Probably.

For almost two years I’ve avoided encouraging people toward Versa and Sense. With the latest revelations, it probably is as good a time as any to jump ship. If you use Fitbit on iOS, buy an Apple Watch. It’s the obvious thing to do if you want a super-smart, sporty watch.

Thoughts

It’s sad to see one of the industry’s early, leading lights end up like this. Of course, many at the time, predicted this kind of demise as soon as Google bought the company.

Fitbit technology and employees will continue the brand’s work, albeit under a different banner.

Overall Google probably has made the right call. It will focus efforts on Wear OS, Pixel and Samsung in the battle against Apple. Indeed the latest Pixel 3 watch is what I would call the company’s first credible contender to Apple Watch, if only Google had got its act together a year earlier it might have a better market share.

It seems that 2025 will mark the start of the proper smartwatch battle as Google, Samsung and Apple go head to head. As I’ve said many times before, smartwatches are only ever going to get sportier and that is really, really bad news for Garmin, Polar et al..