What you need to know
- 9to5Google "sources" report that Fitbit will release the new Charge 6 this year alongside the Pixel Watch 2.
- They claim the Charge 6 will look largely similar to the Charge 5, but with the addition of a physical button instead of a touch-only design.
- It reportedly will feature Google apps, similar to the Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4.
Fitbit may finally have a new fitness tracker for sale after a very quiet 2023 thus far. A report claims that the Fitbit Charge 6, successor to the excellent Charge 5, will launch by the holiday season.
9to5Google claims that multiple sources have confirmed that a new Charge model is on the way. Allegedly, the Charge 6 "looks exactly like the Charge 5 except for the addition of a physical button on the left edge."
The Charge 5 has a 1-inch AMOLED display and no buttons or haptic buttons like other Fitbit trackers. That made it fully reliant on touchscreen controls, which our reviewer called "hit or miss" in an otherwise positive review. So perhaps the addition of a button would solve some of those concerns.
In addition, this report indicates that the Charge 6 will keep a similar swipe-heavy UI but that it will also let you control YouTube Music playlists on your phone — but not store its own playlists — or guide yourself "to a predefined address" via Google Maps.
The Charge 6 aside, we're curious if the Fitbit OS will only support playback controls for YouTube Music or other popular music streaming platforms. Older Fitbits have had basic, platform-agnostic music controls in the past, but the Versa 4 and Sense 2 cut the feature.
Otherwise, this report doesn't go into much detail about any new Fitbit Charge 6 features, so there's still plenty to learn if it's true.
Last month, we learned that a Fitbit tracker had passed through the FCC, but we speculated that it wasn't the Charge 6 because it seemingly had no NFC support. Perhaps the FCC report failed to mention the tap-to-pay functionality or the Charge 6 will lose the feature; the 9to5Google report makes no mention of Google Wallet.
Another possibility is that Fitbit will release a second, simpler tracker like the Luxe 2 simultaneously, and we just haven't received confirmation yet.
We heard last September from a 9to5Google source that the Charge 6 had arrived at the FCC with an identical design to the 5. We've never been clear on whether Google planned to release the Charge 6 before delaying it a year or if this report was faulty.
In other words, while we could very well see a new Fitbit Charge 6 at the upcoming Pixel event on October 4, we can't confirm whether or not these latest sources are accurate.
Thankfully, we won't have too long to wait, and we do know for certain that the Pixel Watch 2 will arrive soon as an alternative Fitbit option. Like the original watch, it should have deep Fitbit integration and a 6-month Fitbit Premium trial.
