Garmin confirms it’s grabbing all the new runners’ wrists with its watches
Garmin’s latest quarterly earnings were a mixed bag, with strong positives and worrisome declines in the core Fenix-related segment. The single most positive factor in the impressive growth of the Fitness segment (Forerunner, Venu) is that first-time watch buyers account for by far the largest share of new customers.
Growth across both kinds of products that we have in fitness…running products (and) advanced wellness products…The convincing majority of people coming to our platform are new users, and we’re seeing strong double-digit growth in those registrations and new products year over year.[Pemble, CEO]
Analysis: Young and female demographics are booming for the fitness industry first-timer, and running is one of the key sports to benefit. Garmin is well-positioned to handle growth and has a portfolio of features relevant to the female audience. Anecdotally, I have heard that Coros is also doing well in the same demographics, but it’s likely that Garmin is taking the lion’s share of the traditional sports watch market. Apple may be a different story.
Market Impact: Coros, Polar, and the Female Demographics
What’s also interesting here is that Pemble didn’t mention competitors switching to Garmin – it’s just not as important a factor as wholly new customers. That might be good news for competitors like Polar and Suunto, who could’ve retained customers and modestly grown. Of course, Garmin also lost some customers, and as I identified in an article last week, Garmin needs to fix many ‘sticks’ to stop them from being driven into the hands of Coros (wrists!).
Last Updated on 3 March 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.
Would love to know how they’ve measured that. Recently came from a Pixel Watch and there was nothing to suggest if I was a new or existing watch wearer during the purchase or installation process.
good point!
I have no answer! at least none that would make sense (age…young, no previous link to strava to reestablish, type of training plan chosen, survey, fitness level)