Report: Fitbit Surge Will Be a Fitness Smartwatch for Athletes
Just a few days after purported photos of two new Fitbit fitness trackers leaked online, a new report says the company appears to be readying a third product for launch — one that’s part smartwatch.
Alongside the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR, another product called the Fitbit Surge will launch soon specifically for serious athletes, according to The Verge. Beyond health tracking, the device will display call and text notifications, a feature typically found in smartwatches (and not necessarily fitness trackers).
While the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR (the latter includes a heart-rate monitor) are reportedly updates to the ill-fated Fitbit Force that was recalled after users reported allergic reactions to the wristband, the Surge is much more specialized toward runners.
Fitbit’s demographic is typically people who want to track steps and calories, but athletes who are training for marathons would likely go for running-centric devices instead like the $130 Garmin vivofit. The Surge may give runners more of a reason to consider the Fitbit brand for rigorous workouts.
The Surge is said to come with built-in GPS tracking and “PurePulse” heart rate monitoring. It will provide access to stats like distance, pace, elevation, heart-rate intensity, sleep tracking, calories burned and more. Other features include smart notifications, like seeing calls and text alerts on the device’s display when synced up to a smartphone. The device will cost $249, according to The Verge.
The news comes as Apple is reportedly looking to pull the plug on selling Fitbit wristband trackers at its retail stores. While it’s not clear why Apple would do so, it’s easy to assume the move is related to the company’s own entrance into the wearables market in 2015 with the Apple Watch (starting at $349). The timing also comes on the heels of Fitbit telling users in the forum section of its website that it won’t be integrating with Apple HealthKit software anytime soon.
Although the timeline for the launch of new Fitbit devices isn’t entirely known, it’s likely we could see a debut in the next few weeks, ahead of the holiday shopping season.
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