- Garmin's CEO Cliff Pemble mentioned in a quarterly earnings call that big things were coming in its outdoor category, which includes Fenix watches
- He expects growth to "accelerate" in the back half of the year do to "the timing of product launches"
- It's likely this is a reference to the Garmin Fenix 9
It looks like Garmin's gearing up for a big second half of the year for its outdoor watches, sparking rumors of the much-anticipated Garmin Fenix 9. If true, our list of the best Garmin watches is in for a bit of a shake-up.
Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble revealed during a quarterly earnings call with investors (recorded by leaker The5KRunner) that he "expects stronger performance in the back half of the year due to the timing of product launches", stating that it would be "a very active year for outdoor".
In order to decipher these cryptic statements correctly and interpret them as a Garmin Fenix 9 tease, you'll have to bear with me as I go into the corporate jargon of it all. Earnings calls are largely uninteresting for people (like me, and probably you) who just want to get outside and run with their watches, but they often contain hints of new products to come.
Garmin's portfolio of smartwatches is split across outdoor (Fenix, Instinct and the like) and fitness (Venu, Forerunner, Vivoactive). While fitness revenue exploded due to launches like the Garmin Vivoactive 6 last quarter, Garmin's outdoor section remained fairly flat. However, a big flashy product launch like its flagship Fenix series would certainly deliver the boost Pemble's promising.
Earnings calls are designed to update and reassure investors, so Pemble's promise of big things on its outdoor roadmap can only really mean one thing: a high-profile flagship product launch. The timing tracks, too: the Garmin Fenix 8 was released in August 2024, so releasing the Fenix 9 two years later, also in the back half of the year, certainly makes sense.
What might the Fenix 9 look like?
It's hard to imagine how to improve on the Fenix 8 (which we gave five stars) and the Fenix 8 Pro.
Perhaps the Fenix 8 Pro's satellite messaging feature will come as standard, the battery will last even longer, or Garmin might even have finally cracked the trick of creating a solar-charging AMOLED watch.
Garmin's Power Glass solar charging technology, which slows the battery drain if the user spends three hours a day in sunny conditions of 50,000 lux or brighter, only works with its lower-power memory-in-pixel displays. Power Glass can't offset the power consumption of its AMOLED screens in its current form.
If Garmin can create a bright AMOLED-style watch while still pulling off the solar charging trick, it's likely to ditch MIP for ever, starting with the Fenix 9 — which would be a sad day for old hands.
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