What you need to know
- Placeholder information about the Garmin Vivosmart 6 has appeared on two regional Garmin websites.
- An unknown Garmin “Fitness Product” has also appeared in a Korea regulatory filing.
- The Vivosmart 6 will allegedly feature built-in GPS, whereas the 2022 Vivosmart 5 relied on your phone’s GPS.
- Garmin frequently launches new devices at CES, making CES 2026 a likely launch window.
Garmin will allegedly reenter the budget fitness tracker market after a nearly four-year wait, as the Garmin Vivosmart 6 seems likely to get a Las Vegas reveal in less than a month.
Gadgets & Wearables has compiled a list of evidence, including an apparent Google Search preview for a Garmin Indonesia page, claiming the Vivosmart 6 will have “built-in GPS and more than 30 sports applications.”
That would be a step up from the Vivosmart 5, which used connected GPS and only had 13 sports modes in total. The 2022 tracker used a 0.41″ x 0.73″ OLED touchscreen and included HR, blood oxygen, and accelerometer data, with a seven-day battery life packed into a petite 24–26g design.
Garmin’s Korea regulatory listing for “model number A04986” is classified as a “Fitness Product,” which G&W notes is different from most Garmin products listed as a “Smart Watch.” It also says they spotted a “placeholder webpage” on Garmin Sweden for the Vivosmart 6.
With Garmin announcing the Lily 2 at CES 2024, then the Instinct 3 and HRM 200 at CES 2025, it’s a fair assumption that the Vivosmart 6 will launch at CES 2026, which begins January 6.
The fitness tracker market has shrunk in recent years, with consumers pivoting to cheap, full-sized smartwatches, while brands like Xiaomi sell cheap trackers that could make the Vivosmart 6 feel expensive to casual athletes.
Garmin’s main North American rival is Fitbit, which is expected to release new hardware in 2026, likely an Inspire 4 or Charge 7. Garmin will have a head start with an early 2026 release and lack of mandatory subscription.
What we’d expect (and want) from the Garmin Vivosmart 6
Right now, you can buy a Xiaomi Mi Band 10 and get a 1.7-inch, 1,500-nit AMOLED display, three weeks of battery life, a gyroscope, and 150 sports modes for $50 (though no GPS). With a Fitbit Charge 6, you have a 1-inch display, a longer list of health sensors — skin temp, ECG, and EDA — and a few Google apps, and it’s usually on sale for $100.
Garmin has been increasing its watch prices over the last couple of years, so whether the Vivosmart 6 sticks to the old $149 price or climbs to $199, Garmin will need to find ways to justify that high price for a product category that’s trending toward cheap value.
Built-in GPS is a great start; giving the Vivosmart 6 a full-color display that’s larger, while still keeping the device lightweight and offering at least a week of battery life, is the next step. And if Garmin can pull some tools from the Vivoactive 6 like the Smart Wake alarm and daily walking suggestions, that would make the next Vivosmart feel more modern.
I’d also expect some health features from the last few years to appear: Heart Rate Variability (HRV), sleep coaching, nap detection, breathing variations, and (most importantly) the new Health Status tool spotting outliers in people’s health.
I’m not expecting Garmin’s more in-depth training insights on this petite device, such as training load/ effect or built-in indoor workouts. But post-workout recovery data would certainly be a welcome addition!
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