2020 has been a big year for wearable tech, and here’s our roundup of what happened.
2020 has not been a normal year for any of us, we think it’s fair to say. Though in spite of having to spend a little more time indoors than usual and maybe putting some plans on hold, the pause button certainly wasn’t hit in the wearable world. In fact, it felt like we saw more smartwatches and fitness trackers launch this year than we’ve seen in previous years, as the big names sought to cement their place as the top picks and others entered the space for the very first time. Apple and Samsung still managed to usher out new flagship smartwatches. Huawei grew its wearable presence too, and despite the hold up in being bought up by Google, Fitbit had plenty of new devices to talk about as well. We also saw debut watches from the likes of Oppo, Wahoo and Realme. Not only has it been one of the busiest years for wearable launches, it’s arguably been the most important, where watches and trackers helped us stay in touch and keep closer tabs on our own health and fitness. We’ve taken some time to digest just what has happened this year and pinpoint those big moments that made this such an important year for wearables. We picked out the launches, announcements and talking points that defined 2020 in wearables. The year in tech as always is signaled by the first major tech expo of the year that is CES. While we weren’t exactly drowning in smartwatch announcements, the moves that were made, gave us a taste of what was to come for the rest of the year. Withings, who were still in the process of trying to get back to its innovative roots after the whole Nokia episode, offered the headline smartwatch story of the show with the unveiling of the Withings ScanWatch. The typically sleek-looking hybrid followed Apple in bringing an ECG to the wrist, offering the ability to take medical grade heart rate measurements to help detect signs associated with serious heart health issues like atrial fibrillation. Withings had to seek out the appropriate regulatory approval to launch it, which did finally happen in Europe later in the year. A US release is still pending, however. Along with the ScanWatch, Huami kicked off 2020 with the first of its many Amazfit smartwatches it would serve up for the rest of the year. One of the first one the scene was the Amazfit T-Rex, a smartwatch that had nothing to do with dinosaurs, but everything to do with offering a watch built for the outdoors that didn’t cost a whole lot of money. The T-Rex was also joined by the Bip S, its truly budget smartwatch that spawned a number of different versions that also launched this year. February was a bit of a quiet month for wearables as that pandemic feeling started to creep in and it took until March to see more new watch announcements despite the world being forced to spend more time indoors and physical events being canned. The Swatch Group, whose CEO famously called the Apple Watch a gimmick, finally unveiled its first smartwatch to run on its own in-house developed operating system in the form of the Tissot T-Touch Connect Solar. It’s unveiling coincided with reports suggesting the Apple Watch had taken a big bite into the sales of Swiss-made watches. Huawei also made moves as its share of the smartwatch market continued to grow and it unveiled the Huawei Watch GT 2e. While not that dramatically different from the Watch GT 2, it did offer a more workout-friendly look with an even more affordable price tag, As the world started to get used to that lockdown life, our behavior towards working out and staying active unsurprisingly changed.
