Fitbit Charge 5 Leaks Reveal New Color Touchscreen

In a yr the place it’s all about Wear OS, it looks like Fitbit is dedicating 2021 to its trackers. After including the Luxe to its lineup this previous spring, we’re now seeing leaked renders for a possible Charge 5 for this fall.

The renders come courtesy of prolific leaker Evan Blass, who tweeted the photographs on Saturday. At a look, the rumored Charge 5 takes heavy design cues from its newly launched Luxe tracker with a curved, colour touchscreen. On the perimeters, it seems that Fitbit can also be persevering with with the capacitive controls, which the corporate launched on the Charge 3 instead of buttons. The choice to stay with capacitive controls hasn’t precisely been a well-liked one, with many complaining they’re not as simple to make use of mid-workout. As for strap colour, it seems we’ll see a minimum of three choices in cream, black, and bluish-gray. Meanwhile, the tracker case seems to be prefer it’ll are available in black, silver, and gold.

That mentioned, we are able to’t inform a lot else concerning the Charge 5 because the renders don’t embrace a take a look at its sensor array. It’s most likely protected to imagine you’ll get all of the usuals, resembling accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, SpO2, and optical coronary heart charge sensors. It’s extremely more likely to have a built-in GPS as properly. The long-requested characteristic was lastly added to the Charge 4 in spring 2020, together with NFC funds. That would additionally assist to distinguish it from the Luxe, which lacks these two options and is supposed for a extra informal, fashion-forward person. But apart from the design, it’s unlikely we’ll see every other main modifications. (Perhaps the addition of a pores and skin temperature sensor?)

The Charge line has principally caught to iterative updates through the years, and as one of many firm’s hottest merchandise, Fitbit’s adopted an “if it ain’t broke” technique. One fascinating level will probably be battery life. Fitbit’s multi-day battery life helps set its devices aside in a world more and more dominated by premium smartwatches that may barely last more than a day. However, colour touchscreens are rather more power-hungry in comparison with monochrome screens. It wasn’t a difficulty on the Luxe, however then once more, the Luxe didn’t have built-in GPS both.

It is sensible that Fitbit would focus extra on its trackers this yr. Not solely did it come out weapons blazing final yr, nevertheless it’s additionally not more likely to make a lot headway on the premium smartwatch entrance till subsequent yr. While CEO James Park mentioned at Google I/O that the corporate would be engaged on a Wear OS 3 smartwatch, Google lately famous that the brand new platform wouldn’t be coming to non-Samsung watches till mid-2022 on the earliest. That would additionally give Qualcomm time to form the hell up and ship wearable chips that truly use tech from this decade.

We gained’t have to attend too lengthy to seek out out extra concerning the Charge 5. Fitbit usually retains to a spring-fall launch cadence, and it normally holds a launch occasion someday across the finish of August.