Google denies Fitbit hardware is going away

Google has dened it is planning to cease development of Fitbit-branded hardware, following recent comments suggesting there’d be no more Fitbit-branded smartwatches.

The company has issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to the Fitbit brand, despite reports from the likes of Engadget saying there’d only be Pixel-branded smartwatches from now on. Last week Google told the site: “Pixel Watches are our next iteration of smartwatch for Fitbit.”

A new statement given to Ars Technica credited the Fitbit team for the innovations the new Pixel Watch 3 brought to the fore. Google also pointed out Fitbit had only just released a Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, designed for children.

“We are very committed to Fitbit, and even more importantly to the customers that use and depend on those products and technology,” a Google spokesperson said.

“It’s also worth noting that many of the health and fitness features we launched in Pixel Watch 3 were because of Fitbit’s innovation and ground-breaking fitness advancements. In addition, we just launched Fitbit Ace LTE, [a smartwatch for kids released on June 5], and you’ll continue to see new products and innovation from Fitbit.”

Our course, that statement doesn’t deny the possibility the likes of the Sense and Versa watches would no longer be produced, although Google’s comments on the matter seem to suggest it would be moving forward smartwatches with the best Fitbit tech would be Pixel-branded.

The last Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4 devices landed in late 2022. Neither were particularly well reviewed here at Trusted Reviews. Both received 3.5 star reviews from a possible 5 stars.

Our reviewer concluded: “The Fitbit Versa 4 is a solid, affordable fitness tracker packed into a smartwatch body, but doesn’t really build on the good work Fitbit did with the Versa 3. In fact, it offers fewer features and is still hamstrung by its Premium subscription service, which actually makes the last Versa a better buy.”

As for the Fitbit Sense 2, our reviewer Michael Sawh wrote: “The Fitbit Sense 2 feels like a better watch for monitoring different aspects of your health but a worse smartwatch than the original Sense. If you want the best that Fitbit can offer on all fronts, then you might be best avoiding this one.”