Fitbit’s second generation smartwatch – Fitbit Versa – is off to a scorching start. After its general availability on 16 April, the health and fitness-focused smartwatch has reached more than one million consumer hands. Boasting a brand new design, advanced health and fitness features, long battery life and complemented by an accessible price tag, the Versa is Fitbit’s fastest selling device in its history. The company also announced that more than 2.4 million users have used its new female health tracking feature, which was made available to all Fitbit users last month.
The Fitbit Versa is Fitbit’s best attempt at the Apple Watch-dominated smartwatch segment yet. Its foray into the segment began with its flagship Fitbit Ionic seems natural seeing its expertise in health and fitness trackers and software.
The Ionic was ambitious, but also pricey, and ultimately wasn’t (and isn’t) a threat to the Apple Watch. Apple’s smartwatch and Xiaomi’s Huami occupy 80 percent of the entire smartwatch market.
And the stats speak for themselves. The smartwatch segment is actually growing, at an average of 20 percent each year, over the next five years (Data: CCS Insight).
What’s interesting is that dedicated fitness trackers are losing ground, and have been since 2017.
Thus, it’s inevitable for Fitbit to get rolling in the game, and use its learning to make more competitive smartwatches in the future.
And learned from the debutant Ionic it has. The Versa is lighter and cheaper, while offering a similar feature set.
In fact, it’s the lightest and smartest-looking Fitbit device yet. It has an ultra-thin anodised aluminium case with rounded edges.
The screen offers an unprecedented 1,000 nits of brightness.
Fitbit has removed the GPS module, as found on its predecessor, and now offloads GPS tracking to a connected smartphone. This omission contributes to the weight savings on the device.
There’s plenty to love on the Versa – from enhanced 24/7 PurePulse heart rate tracking, on-screen workouts from Fitbit Coach, automatic swim tracking with 5ATM plus automatic activity and exercise tracking.
Sleep health is a key focus for Fitbit, and advanced sleep tracking features are built-in to the Versa.
It ticks most of the checkboxes for a smartwatch, including notifications and the ability to send quick replies.
It also has built-in storage, so you can store up to 300 songs from your music collection and listen, untethered on-the-go.
There’s much more, find out by reading the previous post.
Another huge feature involves female health. The Versa helps women to understand how their menstrual cycle connects to their overall health.
This new feature has proven to be popular. First made available to iOS and Windows users, more than 1 million women started using the feature within the first two weeks of availability.
Now with Android support, more than 2.4 million users have added the feature to their Fitbit app. Fitbit says that 1.8 million users have added at least one period to the calendar, and over 500,000 users have added two or more restrospective periods.
Nearly 700,000 users have logged on or more symptoms.
Pricing and availability
The Fitbit Versa is available now starting from MYR990 for the standard black with a black aluminium case, gray with a silver aluminium case, or peach with a rose gold aluminium case.
The Fitbit Versa Special Edition retails for MYR1,120, while accessories range from MYR130 to MYR420.
If you prefer built-in GPS, you can consider the Fitbit Ionic which retails for MYR1,098.
The products are available now at all leading stores including All IT Hypermarket, AONE Plus, Best Denki, Harvey Norma, Timekeeper, Thunder Match Technology and Lazada Malaysia.
For more info, visit Fitbit.
