Garmin’s next era starts in 2026 and the clues are hiding in plain sight

Few wearable brands attempted more in 2025 than Garmin.

The company rolled out more than a dozen new products across fitness, outdoor and aviation, but one device towered above the rest: the Fenix 8 Pro, the world’s first microLED smartwatch, and the first Garmin watch to ship with built-in InReach satellite messaging.

It reset expectations for what a top-tier outdoor wearable could be, and it arrived during a year when interest in the brand surged to new highs.

Garmin’s financials reflected that momentum. The stock climbed close to $260 per share in October, fuelled by a swelling base of users upgrading or joining the ecosystem.

Yet even in a record year, there were signs of tension beneath the surface.

Despite excitement for microLED, the company admitted that sales of the Garmin Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro fell short of expectations, a potential early signal of “Fenix fatigue” after years of rapid iteration.

A year of breakthroughs (and bruises)

Innovation wasn’t Garmin’s only story in 2025. The rollout of Connect+, the company’s first subscription-driven platform, raised eyebrows across the community.

Long-time users worried that introducing a paid tier marked a philosophical shift for a brand often seen as the last refuge from smartwatch subscriptions.

Early AI features didn’t help: summaries felt shallow, training insights fell short of rivals, and many questioned what they were being asked to pay for.

The year also brought an unexpected clash with Strava. A public dispute over data attribution escalated into a brief lawsuit, with Strava accusing Garmin of leaning too hard on its patents.

The suit was eventually dropped, but Garmin remained tight-lipped, and users were left wondering how two cornerstone fitness platforms ended up trading jabs in the first place.

So, where is Garmin headed in 2026?

Garmin enters 2026 from a position of strength, but the path ahead requires careful navigation. Based on launches, patents, leaks and industry chatter, here’s what to expect.

If Connect+ is going to survive and grow, Garmin needs AI that does more than summarise workouts.

Users who buy expensive wearables expect actionable training guidance, not generic insights. Garmin’s audience skews serious, affluent and performance-driven; they will pay for quality, but they want clear value.

2026 may be the year Garmin either defines its AI strategy properly, or risks losing ground to Apple, Samsung and Polar, some of whom are already leaning heavily into personalised coaching.

Will we see a wave of MicroLED watches?

MicroLED was Garmin’s moonshot in 2025. The question now is scale.

Does the tech stay exclusive to the Fenix 8 Pro, or does it trickle down into the Forerunner or even Instinct families? Maybe even the Venu series?

A wider rollout would mark a generational shift: brighter screens, better efficiency, and true outdoors-first visibility.

The question, as always, remains financial. Garmin's products carry a premium price tag, and adding technology to any of the watches inevitably pushes the price higher.

The brand needs to scale up production of the MicroLED panels to make them cheaper – how, remains a big question mark for now.

And then there’s the wildcard: AMOLED + solar charging.

A Garmin patent surfaced pointing toward exactly that. If the company pulls this off, it could solve one of the biggest trade-offs in modern smartwatch design.

Similar to MicroLED, the brand's biggest issue with adding solar charging to its AMOLED watches was that it raised the price without any real customer benefit.

Now that all major Garmin franchises use AMOLED displays, the time is ripe to roll out solar charging for these watches. As always, easier said than done, but if someone can do it, it's Garmin.

A rotating crown? Garmin might finally rethink navigation

A 2025 leak hinted at a rotating crown, something Apple Watches have used for a decade and Garmin has long resisted.

Given the complexity of Connect+ menus and AI summaries, a new control method could feel overdue, especially for smaller watches where multi-button navigation is less intuitive.

It might not be the most mind-blowing innovation from the wearable giant, but it might help refresh some of its smartwatches. Plus, expect that crown to be as over-engineered as most Garmin features.

The software story matters just as much as the hardware

Garmin pushed out unusually frequent updates in 2025, adding features to older watches even as new ones launched. If the company wants to rebuild goodwill around Connect+, that commitment needs to continue.

A major part of user frustration this year came from the Connect app redesign, which many still dislike. Garmin cannot afford a repeat of that backlash in 2026. Marketing Connect+ clearly – and making it feel indispensable rather than optional – will be crucial.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is the next frontier in wearables, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Garmin is exploring new biometric sensors, though nothing is confirmed.

If the technology becomes reliable enough to ship, Garmin could leapfrog competitors by introducing metabolic tracking to its flagship line.

This would require the introduction of a new sensing platform, which might be a slight issue.

The Elevate Gen 5 debuted in May 2025 with higher-end watches like the Garmin Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970.

It added improvements such as ECG support on some models and skin-temperature sensing alongside more LEDs for better tracking.

Knowing that the Elevate Gen 4 first appeared in April 2021 on the Venu 2, it's unlikely Garmin would launch an updated version so soon.

We might have to wait till 2028 or 2029 for CGM to appear on Garmins.

Should Garmin slow its hardware schedule? Maybe

Garmin’s relentless pace keeps the ecosystem lively, but it also risks confusing buyers and exhausting even loyal fans. In 2026, a tighter focus on software, AI, and user experience may do more for long-term loyalty than another wave of watch variations.

After a year of big swings, Garmin enters 2026 with unmatched momentum, but also new scrutiny. Users love the hardware. They trust the brand. They’re willing to spend. But they now expect Garmin to match its sensor and battery expertise with smarter software, clearer value, and a steadier vision.

MicroLED, solar AMOLED, new sensors, a rotating crown; all of these could happen. But it’s Garmin’s approach to AI, Connect+, and user confidence that will define the brand’s next chapter.