9 smartwatches and fitness trackers to look out for in 2019
2018 was another strong year for wearables, smartwatches and fitness trackers, as their abilities grew, and so too did demand from consumers keen to use them.
Just as smartphone sales begin to slow, falling victim to a stagnant and expensive market where consumers held onto their purchases for longer than ever, more affordable wearables are on the up.
Analysts IDC predict global wearable sales to double over the next four years, as companies look to take advantage of consumer demand for quantifying their activity and keep closer checks on their health.
With devices like the Apple Watch Series 4 - able to take an ECG reading in the US — the wearable market is going to mature through 2019, as manufacturers of consumer tech edge ever closer to the medical tech industry.
Here's a look at what wearables — including smartwatches and fitness trackers — we expect to see in 2019.
Apple Watch Series 5
Among the more obvious predictions for 2019, it's entirely likely that Apple will launch a new Watch around September time. This will be a year after the Series 4 and two years after the Series 3, so there are no prizes for guessing the new model would be called the Watch Series 5.
Apple will likely be keen to build on the move towards med-tech it made with the Series 4 and its ECG capabilities. But before that, Apple must seek certification for the ECG feature in more countries than just the United States. For now, despite the same model of watch being sold worldwide, the ECG feature can only be used in the US, where it has been certified by the Food and Drug Administration. Hopefully this certification will be completed by the EU and other territories before the Series 5 arrives.
Because the Series 4 introduced a refined form factor and a larger screen, we expect the Series 5 to remain almost physically identical to its predecessor, but with a more powerful processor, improved battery life - and hopefully sleep-tracking, which Apple is yet to officially offer.
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▲Samsung Galaxy Watch 2
GearBrain
Snapping at the Apple Watch's heels, as ever, is Samsung. For 2018 the company launched the Galaxy Watch, which runs its own Tizen software and is a strong alternative to the Apple — especially for Android users, who cannot use the Apple Watch.
For 2019, Samsung will likely announce the Galaxy Watch 2, or perhaps a more sports-orientated version of the Galaxy Watch — this is the approach Samsung took in 2017, launching the Gear Sport. We can expect to see Samsung's next watch arrive sometime in the fall, if the company sticks to its usual schedule.
What will be most interesting, is if Samsung opts to follow Apple into the ECG arena, or offer a different form of medically-certified technology. If it doesn't, we fear a gulf will emerge and Samsung's smartwatch will appear second-best behind Apple's medically-superior offering.
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▲LG Watch
LG's Watch W7 took the smartwatch concept in a new direction in 2018, by placing a set of physical hands over the top of a circular touchscreen. This hybrid approach was an interesting move from LG and certainly helped to set the Watch W7 apart from Apple, Samsung and all other rivals.
But the W7 didn't strike a chord with reviewers, who said that, while offering a solution to time-telling when the watch's main battery runs out, the hands mostly get in the way of the software.
We wonder if LG will stick to this recipe for 2019, revert back to touchscreen-only, or try something new. Whatever it decides, we hope it equips its next smartwatch with the new Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which replaced the ageing and sluggish 2100 this year.
As with LG's rivals, an emphasis on advanced health tracking will be key to success in 2019.
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▲Google Pixel Watch
Perhaps one of the biggest disappoints of 2018 (in technology, at least) was Google not announcing the Pixel Watch. Speculation had mounted for weeks in the run-up to the company's Pixel 3 launch event in the fall, but Google's first own-branded smartwatch never materialized.
We hope Google will finally release this watch in 2019, giving consumers a new alternative to the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch — and potentially with a lower price point. Such a watch would of course run Google's own Wear OS operating system, and the Google Assistant would likely form an important part of the experience.
Samsung's Bixby voice assistant is almost completely useless on the Galaxy Watch, so bringing a competent and useful assistant to the Pixel Watch would be a smart move from Google.
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▲Withings
French fitness tech company Withings bought itself back from Nokia in 2018 and relaunched with the new Steel HR Sport, an attractive, well-priced and feature-packed hybrid watch. For 2019, we hope to see the company release new wearables, as well as updates to its range of health-tech devices, like its sleep tracker, simply called the Sleep, and its smart scales.
We predict that 2019 will be a big year for fitness and health tech, and feel that Withings is in a great position to captialize on this with attractive and affordable devices. Updates to its Steel and Steel HR watches would be very welcome, along with a new range of luxury watch straps and updates to its Health Mate smartphone app.
Buy Withings Steel HR Watches on Amazon
▲Tag Heuer Connected
Tag Heuer
At the other end of the wearable market, luxury Swiss watchmakers like Tag Heuer are still investing in the smartwatch industry. We recently heard that sales of the Tag Heuer Connected have taken a dip, but with the new, smaller 41mm model only launching in 2018, we hope the future is still bright for at least another generation of Tag smartwatch.
This hopeful outlook also applies to Montblanc, Frederique Constant and all of the other Swiss watchmakers who have dipped their toes into the smartwatch and hybrid watch waters in recent years. They are very welcome, in our eyes, and shouldn't be drowned out by Apple and Samsung.
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▲Fitbit and Garmin
Both of these companies has established themselves as major players in the fitness tracker and sports watch markets. They undercut Apple and Samsung, while offering devices which can be worn as well as a regular watch, instead of replacing it.
Fitness and sleep tracking is becoming par for the course across the market, and so too is an ability to automatically log a wide range of sports and exercises.
For 2019, we want to see Fitbit and Garmin expand on their devices' medical abilities. With Apple offering an ECG, emergency fall detection and alerts for abnormal heart rhythms, the pressure is now on these companies — for whom health and fitness is their bread and butter — to up their game.
The key will be extra sensors, more intelligent algorithms and — as will quickly become an industry norm - medical certification.
We also predict that sleep monitoring will be a big trend in 2019, with consumers more aware than ever of the dangers of poor sleep, in terms of both duration and quality. Fitness trackers and smartwatches already offer the basics, but more granular data would be welcome from the next generation of devices from Fitbit and Garmin.
On a similar note, devices which understand our mood and stress levels will be snapped up by consumers increasingly in search of wellness and headspace in their stressful lives.
We expect 2019 to see Fitbit and Garmin add more smartwatch features to their fitness trackers, such as NFC for payments, GPS for accurate run tracking, and more extensive waterproofing across their respective product ranges.
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▲Mobvoi TicWatch
Mobvoi
Mobvoi, a Chinese startup established in 2012, caused a storm in 2018 when its Ticwatch range of smartwatches jumped to the top of many tech publications' rankings. The flagship TicWatch Pro dipped below $200 on Black Friday, offering superb value compared to the $400 Apple Watch.
Much like OnePlus has upset the smartphone establishment with low-cost flagships, we hope Mobvoi and its TicWatch range continues to do the same with smartwatches through 2019 and beyond.
