Is Garmin Closing the Gap?
Forget Market Share: Over the last five years, a surprising trend has emerged in search data: Garmin has finally caught up to the Apple Watch in global online interest. This 5-year Google Trends chart reveals that the battle for consumers’ minds in the wearable market is perhaps a closer-run contest than we imagined.
The clear, obvious, and surprising trend shown above is that public search interest for “Garmin” now matches, and at times even (just!) surpasses, that for “Apple Watch.” While my specific “Garmin” search couldn’t be narrowed to its watches alone, the unmistakable direction of travel indicates a significant shift in consumer curiosity and intent.
What About Coros and Google Pixel Watch?
Delving deeper into similar search analytics, a recent interest in Coros products is also evident. This aligns perfectly with the search patterns observed on this very site.
However, the broader sentiment, reflected across other popular search trends, suggests that the Google Pixel Watch 4 and its Wear OS predecessors haven’t gained substantial traction. The notable exception in this segment remains the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which continues to hold a respectable level of interest.
Take Away
This same chart, updated in one or two years, might be even more interesting if trends continue.
However, trends don’t just continue for mathematical reasons. The increase in search intent for Garmin is likely related to demographic and social changes (which will continue to trend positively).
Whereas Apple’s stagnation might be explained more by its market share in smartphones (watches being an add-on), it is more likely that Apple has less interest in its Watch products. Watch is not as strategically important to the company as iPhone, Siri (LLM, AI), and vision (ahem).
Watches are the raison d’être for Garmin… less so for Apple. The market is there, trading in the right direction for both companies, but perhaps it will be the likes of Samsung and Google who now start to prospect more (I think that will happen).
Last Updated on 30 January 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.
