It was the year life was supposed to return to normal after a year in 2020. But it's fair to say that it didn't work that way in 2021, although normal service has largely resumed. Top names in the industry have regularly launched wearable devices such as new connected watches and fitness trackers.
Certainly, there is a feeling that, with the world of technology plagued with supply chain problems and chip shortages, some revolutionary wearable devices that should have landed in 2021 have been frozen until 2022.
That's not to say we're running out of devices in the wearable space to generate some excitement for what's to come next.
As is customary at this time of year, we're taking a look back at the announcements and headline-grabbing news that marked another busy year for wearables vying to earn a place on our wrists. y en otro lugar.
January to March: quiet rumors are heard about CES, Samsung and Wear OS, OnePlus Watch and Google close this Fitbit deal
With the pandemic still very active, CES, the place that is usually full of announcements, has not delivered a lot of new wearable devices to get excited.
We saw a new hybrid smartwatch from the Fossil Group Skagen brand, as well as an LTE version of their Fossil Gen 5 Wear OS smartwatch, while Zepp (formerly Huami) released even more smartwatches. It has added the Amazfit GTS 2e and GTR 2e to its already extensive collection of devices. Those ads aside, it was a quiet sight for wearables.
Outside of CES, Garmin announced the Garmin Lily in early 2021, a slim hybrid smartwatch designed for women. This model was joined in February by the Garmin Enduro, a multisport watch designed for endurance athletes that offered great battery life and software features designed for ultra-runners and cyclists.
February and March were largely quiet months for releases and news, though that's when we first heard that Samsung's new smartwatches were on the way, which could lead to packaging: Google's Wear OS instead of the system. Samsung's Tizen operative. While it seemed like an odd decision at the time, given the more impressive performance of Samsung's smartwatch platform compared to Google's, it was a story that certainly dominated in 2021.
In March, everything revolved around the OnePlus Watch, which finally landed after years of speculation about whether or not it was in the works. Despite initial rumors that the first OnePlus smartwatch could arrive under Google's Wear operating system, OnePlus decided to go it alone and use its own proprietary operating system to run the software.
Perhaps the biggest news to fall in the first few months of the year is that Google has finally finalized the acquisition of Fitbit. At this point, we began to wonder how long it would take Fitbit to start influencing Google's wearable ambitions, firmly putting speculation about a Pixel Watch back on the table, which was also a topic of discussion later in the week.
April to June: Fitbit Luxe, Wear OS by Google and Samsung, Huawei Watch 3, and new Apple Watch features
As spring approaches, much more has happened than in the first three months of the year. In April, Fitbit, now owned by Google, launched Luxe, a sleek fitness tracker that became the first (but not the last) Fitbit this year to feature a color touchscreen.
There was also launch news from Casio, as it launched its first G-Shock to run Google's Wear OS, as it previously only featured the smartwatch OS on its Pro Trek outdoor watch series.
Maybe Casio should have stayed seated, because big changes were being made with Wear OS. At the Google I / O Developer Conference in May, we learned about a new version of Wear from Google and Samsung. This pretty much confirmed that the next Samsung Galaxy Watch will run on the refreshed Wear 3.0.
Fossil Group, another Wear OS hardware partner, also revealed that they are working on a smartwatch that will be built on this new Wear platform. However, at the same time, the company dealt a blow to the current owners of its smartwatches by revealing that these watches could not be updated with new clothes.
Huawei was also in on the launch action when in June the brand officially unveiled the Huawei Watch 3, its first smartwatch to run on its own HarmonyOS platform. Offering a more refined look than the Huawei Watch 2 and Watch GT 2, it brought Huawei's AppGallery app store to a Huawei smartwatch for the first time.
Apple Watch owners also received information on software updates: the keynote address at Apple's WWDC developer conference featured watchOS 8, which featured features such as an enhanced Wallet app for store digital keys and licenses, new mindfulness features and improved support for photos and messages.
July through September: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Apple Watch Series 7, and Fitbit Charge 5
(*two*)
Apple Watch Series 7 (Image credit: LaComparacion)This is the time of year when things start to get very busy and there was definitely a lot of new stuff to tell.
In July, things were quiet on the launch front, but Mobvoi was the first Wear hardware partner to reveal that one of its existing smartwatches would be Wear 3.0 compatible. The TicWatch Pro 3, its flagship smartwatch, would join the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra and TicWatch E3 for a new Wear in 2022.
In August, Fossil officially unveiled its Gen 6 smartwatch, after announcing earlier this year that the device would also join the watch band to run on Google and Samsung's Wear. Except the Wear version won't land on the smartwatch until 2022.
Fitbit was also busy this month announcing the Charge 5, an update to its flagship activity tracker. It followed the Luxe with a color touchscreen, but also inherited the ECG sensor that previously only appeared on its Sense health watch. This latest addition made the Charge 5 the first fitness tracker capable of helping detect the signs associated with atrial fibrillation.
Then it's Samsung's turn, after numerous leaks, to officially announce the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic. This gave us our first and only look in 2021 at the combination of Google's new Wear and Samsung's best of Tizen.
The Apple Watch Series 7 launched in September when Apple decided to make some design changes, but it didn't sport the flatter look that was rumored earlier in the year. We got two new case sizes, more screen area, and a quick-charge feature; But, to be fair, this was a modest update from the king of smartwatches. Based on what shipped with the 7, it looks like the Apple Watch Series 8 might be the device with the most drastic changes.
Outside of the heavy hitters, Whoop, a favorite of elite athletes, has returned with his fourth-generation laptop. Built around sleep and recovery, it added the ability to track blood oxygen and skin temperature to the mix. I even had the option of wearing the laptop somewhere other than around the wrist, inside clothing, like compression shorts and sports bras.
Additionally, Amazon released Halo View, a cheaper version of its Halo fitness tracker, which came with a screen to display basic fitness statistics; it was clearly designed to compete with the Fitbits, Xiaomis, and Huaweis of this world.
The end of the year saw plenty of opportunities again for manufacturers to get in on the launch action, and there were certainly plenty of buzz about what might be on the way too.
The first to be launched during this period was Motorola, with its Moto Watch 100. Unlike its previous Moto smartwatches, this one did not come with Google's Wear operating system; instead, it came with a proprietary operating system on board. Zepp has also increased its ranks with three new smartwatches: the GTS 3, the GTR 3 and the GTR 3 Pro. The trio signaled the arrival of Zepp's new operating system, which added an app store with a view to offering third-party apps. for the first time.
Huawei wasn't done in the year either, releasing the Huawei Watch GT 3 with design cues borrowed from its Watch 3 and HarmonyOS software. Away from watches, Oura introduced its third-generation smart ring, taking advantage of its sleep and recovery tracking features with an SpO2 sensor, as well as new women's health tracking features.
Then there were the tasty rumors of things to come. First, Meta's first smartwatch, which is supposed to arrive with a front-facing camera, if that leaked lone image turns out to be genuine. There's also talk of the Google Pixel Watch, with various reports suggesting it could land in 2022, with alleged images of Pixel Watch marketing material also popping up. It's a rumor that we think could last until 2022.