What it’s essential know
- A Google FCC submitting noticed by 9to5Google factors to a brand new Fitbit tracker, although particulars are scant.
- It makes use of Bluetooth LE however not NFC, which suggests a lower-end Fitbit tracker fairly than the Cost 6.
- Fitbit will revamp its app this fall, probably in preparation for brand new Fitbit trackers.
It has been practically a 12 months since Fitbit launched any new {hardware}. With the long-rumored Fitbit Cost 6 nonetheless nowhere to be discovered and Google retracting or redesigning a variety of Fitbit software program in current months, we have been unsure the place, precisely, Fitbit would go subsequent. Now, now we have a small trace of what to anticipate.
9to5Google‘s Kyle Bradshaw noticed a Google LLC FCC submitting with mannequin quantity G3MP5 similar to an unnamed system with Bluetooth LE assist.
How do we all know it is a new Fitbit? Bradshaw notes that the FCC e-label declaration web page states you will discover the regulatory information on the system by going to Settings > Machine Information > Regulatory Information from the House display screen. These are the very same steps you comply with on a present Fitbit system just like the Cost 5 to search out this information, and Google, after all, owns Fitbit.
When it comes to which Fitbit system it’s, we will assume it is a lower-end mannequin as a result of the FCC Publicity report solely references Bluetooth. The latest Fitbits have deactivated Wi-Fi antennas, however most high-end fashions do at the very least have NFC for tap-to-pay — one thing that would seem on this report. As an illustration, the intensive Meta Quest 3 FCC report final month included testing for each Wi-Fi 6E and 5G bands.
Of the Fitbit fashions presently obtainable, it is possible not an Encourage 4 as a result of the Encourage 3 simply arrived final 12 months, neither is it a Cost 6 for the reason that Cost 5 has NFC assist. That leaves different trackers just like the Fitbit Ace 3 (launched March 2021) and Fitbit Luxe (April 2021) as candidates which can be overdue for a successor.
Frankly, we simply have not seen that many new health trackers this 12 months, with a variety of corporations focusing completely on smartwatches. When the Amazon Halo model died earlier this 12 months, we wrote that health trackers used to make up 50% of wearable gross sales however had dipped to simply 19% all through 2022.
If this thriller Fitbit tracker simply seems to be a kid-branded Ace 4, with no next-gen Cost in sight, it will be one other dangerous signal for followers of health trackers.
In any other case, it is theoretically doable that Google might launch some type of Pixel-branded tracker, utilizing Fitbit software program however leaving the outdated Fitbit branding behind completely. A Pixel Band could possibly be a logical, lower-priced sibling to the Pixel Watch.
We do know that Google will redesign the Fitbit app this fall, probably alongside the launch of the Pixel Watch 2. Possibly this thriller Fitbit (or Pixel) tracker might arrive on the similar time.