Fitbit had established itself as one of the best wearable tech brands across the landscape beforeGoogle swooped in and purchased the company back in 2021. In just over a decade, its innovative health-tracking smartwatches yielded the $2.1 billion pickup, which both excited and frightened its users. Now, almost three years later, and after Google has begun to make good on its promise torequire a Google account for any sign-ups on the Fitbit platform, prospective buyers and current Fitbit owners in over a dozen countries around the world will no longer be able to purchase new devices.
Googleupdated its documentation for Fitbit deviceslast month, announcing that it would no longer sell any of its products in numerous countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa (viaAndroidAuthority). In the EU the affected countries are: Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia. Across Asia, those countries are: Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Additionally,TechCentralconfirmed this week after talking with Google officials that Fitbit is pulling out of South Africa, too.
While auto-renewals will no longer occur for people who own Fitbit watches in those countries, people can still continue to use its premium subscription services (granted they pay, of course). Google says that current owners will still get access to software releases, security updates, warranty fulfillment, and customer service for their devices. For how long that continues to be the case, we do not know. But combined with the major Google touches it’s integrating into Fitbit software, such as itssplash of Material You, the writing may be on the wall before we know it.
The Google spokesperson that TechCentral talked with gave insight on why Google is removing the Fitbit product line from countries it has made sales in for a number of years. They said that Google is looking “to align our hardware portfolio to map closer to Pixel’s regional availability.” Google has either never sold, doesn’t sell, or doesn’t hold a big presence with products in the countries it’s pulled Fitbit out of.
Is Google hoping to completely assimilate Fitbit’s tech into another Google Pixel Watch line? This wouldn’t be dissimilar to how Apple sells its main “Series” brand with the Apple Watch but, as it has done with iPhones, also sells an “SE” line of cheaper smartwatches. We wouldn’t be shocked if, as the years go on, Google effectively kills off the Fitbit hardware brand and adapts it into a Pixel Watch Active line, but for now, that’s all speculation over Google’s long-term plan.
Pulling out of those countries is not a shocking move from Google, but it is quite disappointing for people who live there. For people who do have access to Fitbit products but live in a country with limited Google device sales, cherish the time you still have with access to new Fitbit trackers, because that may be limited.
