Google appears to be taking its Fitbit brand in an unexpected direction, teasing an entirely new kind of wearable device through a video posted on the Instagram account of NBA legend Steph Curry. The teaser shows Curry wearing what appears to be a woven wristband with no visible screen or buttons, departing significantly from the design language that has defined the Fitbit lineup for years. The clip ends with the words “coming soon,” the Google “G” logo, and a suggestive emoji response from the official Fitbit account, confirming that the product is real and in the pipeline. Curry, who serves as Google’s Performance Advisor and previously appeared at the Made by Google event in August 2025 where the Pixel 10 series and Pixel Watch 4 were announced, described the device as something that would mean a great deal for health and wellness and called it a first of its kind.
The design bears a close resemblance to the Whoop Strap 5.0, a screenless fitness tracker built for continuous wear that has built a devoted following among professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike. The Whoop model relies entirely on a companion app for data access, offering detailed insights into recovery, daily energy expenditure, heart rate patterns, and skin temperature, with notable users including Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Michael Phelps. Fitbit’s reported push into this space signals that Google sees a meaningful market opportunity in the subscription-based, athlete-focused fitness tracker segment, one that Whoop has largely dominated but which has also attracted competition from the likes of Polar, whose Loop band offered a subscription-free alternative. A report from Bloomberg suggests the new Fitbit band will include some features at no extra cost beyond the purchase price, with additional capabilities reserved for Fitbit Premium subscribers, who currently pay $79.99 per year.
The move is notable not just for what it adds to the wearables market but for what it signals about where Google believes the future of fitness tracking is headed. Rather than competing with the Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch on the smartwatch front, this new Fitbit appears to position itself as a dedicated health monitoring device that prioritizes round-the-clock biometric data collection over interactive display functionality, a philosophy more aligned with smart rings than traditional smartwatches. It is also worth noting that this screenless band may not be the only new Fitbit arriving in 2026, as a successor to the Fitbit Charge 6 has been long anticipated and remains expected. Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has suggested that Apple may need to develop its own fitness band concept to avoid falling behind in the broader health tracking segment, particularly as rivals continue to expand their wearable ecosystems beyond the traditional watch form factor.
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