Garmin Fenix 8 microLED – leaked a third time.
A third leak, this time from a Garmin employee, confirmed to a friend of mine that the Garmin Fenix 8 MicroLED is a genuine product in closed beta. The source did not know the exact timing of any planned launch but also stated that an unreleased product like this in closed beta can still be a year away.
MicroLED display technology is undoubtedly coming to wearables. Apple had plans but recently cancelled one of the contracts with panel manufacturer OSRAM.
The benefits of the technology are several: the screens have better colours, are brighter, significantly more energy-efficient, can bend, and can be used for edge-to-edge displays. The technology has already been proven to various degrees, but the current issue is volume manufacturing – manufacturing yields are around 10%—meaning only 1 in 10 displays can be used. Consequently, the cost to a company like Garmin will likely be around $100 per display rather than $10. To give an indication, this means the retail price of the finished watch would have to increase by about $200 above current levels to include that technology changing nothing else in the watch – tricky for the Fenix 8. Another problem is that such low yields make producing large volumes complex – thus, it won’t appear on a Venu or Forerunner 275 any time soon.
I expect to see the Fenix 8 MicroLED next year as an actual product exists beyond the prototype stage. Companies like AUO are already producing MicroLED watch displays for TAG Connected and maybe for Garmin. However, I expect Fenix 8 MicroLED in the latter half of the year (Aug/Sep), as some time must pass after the launch of the Fenix 8 before successor versions arrive.
Another, though unlikely, option is for the MARQ range to morph into Fenix 8 MicroLED. This would align with Garmin’s apparent strategy to reduce the number of brands, i.e., Fenix, MARQ, and Epix, all becoming Fenix.
MARQ also fits the criteria of being a more expensive, lower-volume product. The only flaw in this argument is that MARQ tends to use slightly older, proven technology—MicroLED certainly isn’t that.
Note: Fenix 8 was only a tiny hardware bump from the 7 Pro model. A microLED screen represents a significant hardware bump and could be worth waiting for with improved visual performance for increased battery life. That said, don’t forget that the Fenix 8 Pro models were also leaked simultaneously to Fenix 8 microLED, so the microLED model is likely to be quite different to the 8 Pro.
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Did you get hacked? I see weird articles lately, like the previous one, crypto and bitcoins???
If it was a hack, those articles would probably be deleted later. But they always remain online. Sad thing is that comments are always turned off.
Aggresive monetization.
Do we think it will actually be released on a fenix 8 rather than just testing the performance and durability on an existing fenix 8.
I would be surprised if it’s the next version eg Fenix 9 or 10.
i would say it is the next (half-)generation…ie alongside or part of fenix 8 pro
posibly a fenix 8 non-pro variant relased before the fenix 8 pro.
as per the article replacing (or being) MARQ 3 might make some sense.
as per other comments on the earlier two leaks, Fenix 8 MicroLED is the most god-awful name possible for a watch. I’m assuming it will change!
What’s going on with bit coin and real estate posts showing up on your feed?