Garmin's next big budget Apple Watch rival leaks in full ahead of official launch

Garmin’s next big budget Apple Watch rival leaks in full ahead of official launch،

Among the greats of Samsung Galaxy S24 series announcement and global launch of the OnePlus 12 and 12R, it's safe to say we've had a pretty eventful first few weeks of 2024 in the mobile industry, and that's before also considering the multiple new Motorola's additions to the budget Moto. G family of handsets.

At the same time, things have been rather quiet on the smartwatch scene, with the ever-prolific Garmin, for example, unveiling a unique niche model at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. But the company reportedly plans to launch another decidedly feature-rich wearable device soon, and this one will be aimed at a much wider audience.

Beautiful on the outside, powerful on the inside

Garmin's next big-budget Apple Watch rival leaks in full ahead of its official launch

As the name suggests, this bad boy is expected to take its place below the existing Forerunner 265 on Garmin's totem pole, offering an inexpensive alternative to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. At the moment, however, it's unclear not exactly how the 165 will differ from the 265, as several of the latter's health sensors are expected to be borrowed by the former.

We're talking about important, life-changing and potentially life-saving things like blood oxygen monitoring, heart rate variability, VO2 Max tracking, Running Dynamics technology, and even heart rate detection. naps that add to your daily (or rather nightly) sleep monitoring functionality. .

Granted, there's no word on integrating cutting-edge ECG technology or optional 4G LTE support, but all the tools listed above and others like a barometric altimeter and of course a Standalone GPS connectivity should be enough to justify a purchase for many cash-strapped outdoor fans. , adventurers and fitness fanatics in general.

The best value market price ?

Renowned for €279 on the old continent in a “standard” edition and €329 with integrated music storage, the Garmin Forerunner 165 has It's just a compromise compared to the Forerunner 265 at €500. It's just that these compromises aren't very obvious in the leaked images above and below, which is of course very good news for potential buyers of Garmin's next budget smartwatch.

The AMOLED display should sit right between the 1.1-inch and 1.3-inch touchscreens of the Forerunner 265S and Forerunner 265 respectively, with a fairly generous 1.2-inch diagonal and a more than respectable 390 x 390 pixel resolution. , the five physics. The buttons on both sides of the upcoming smartwatch look decidedly familiar, and the thickness of the bezel isn't bad either.

The Garmin Forerunner 165 is additionally designed to measure 11.6mm in total thickness, which would actually make it thinner than its two more expensive cousins mentioned above, in turn leading to a slight degradation in duration battery life at “only” 11 days.

That's still a lot longer than any of Apple and Samsung's best smartwatches can offer in the endurance department between charges, which makes us really, really intrigued by what Garmin is working on here.

By the way, if the European prices mentioned above hold true, there's a good chance the Forerunner 165 will cost $229 or $249 in the US in an entry-level model, which could make it a value proposition that is almost unbeatable today. Stay tuned for an official announcement in the very near future.