{"id":398756,"date":"2026-01-10T06:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398756\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:33:09","slug":"the-biggest-fitness-trends-at-ces-2026-and-what-i-think-about-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/398756\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Fitness Trends at CES 2026 (and What I Think About Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I just got back from CES 2026, and you can see my real-time reports on some of the best and weirdest things I saw in our CES 2026 live blog<\/a>. I tried on six(!) different exoskeletons, perked up my ears whenever I heard about a new smart strap, and looked in vain for new models of familiar fitness tech like watches. Here are the biggest trends I noticed and some notes on what was conspicuously missing.\u00a0I’ve included prices where possible; anything without a price is likely too far from market to have one yet.<\/p>\n

The number of non-Whoop smart bands just doubled<\/p>\n

\"Luna<\/p>\n

\n Luna band (underside)
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

This is a continuation of a trend that really got going in 2025. Whoop is no longer the only player in the screenless fitness strap space. Last year we saw straps from Amazfit<\/a> ($99) and Polar<\/a> ($199), plus a sleep band from Garmin<\/a> ($169). At CES I learned about two more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Luna Band is likely to be the next one to market\u2014the company\u2019s reps said to expect it to ship sometime in the next month or two. (I plan to review it once units are available.) It will be $149, won’t require a subscription, and it will use the same app as the Luna Ring<\/a>, which I\u2019m currently reviewing. Its maker, Noise, is new to the U.S. wearables market but is one of the leading smartwatch makers in India.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides the new hardware, Noise also announced that the Luna app will soon have a system to take voice notes to give context to your health data. (This is coming to the app in the next few weeks.) For example, if you tell the app that you had a few glasses of wine, it will remember this when it sees your poor sleep the next morning, and it will adjust its recommendations accordingly\u2014say, reminding you to hydrate, rather than telling you to take a nap.<\/p>\n

\"Speediance<\/p>\n

\n Speediance Strap prototypes
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

Speediance also announced the Speediance Strap<\/a>, although it doesn\u2019t seem to be as close to market. No price has been announced, and the units at the show were clearly prototypes. The Strap will collect sleep and recovery data, without requiring a subscription to view it, although some more advanced metrics will require a premium subscription.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rings are everywhere<\/p>\n

\"RingConn<\/p>\n

\n RingConn gen 3
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

Oura has had competitors for years (and has taken up suing them<\/a> to stop sales<\/a>), but it seems like the number of smart rings out there is just exploding\u2014though not all of them are fitness or health oriented. Besides Pebble\u2019s Index 01<\/a> ($75), which is charmingly simple, there are plenty of rings that pack in more functions\u2014NFC payments, AI voice processing, haptic alerts, and more. There are so many I can\u2019t give a full list, but to name a few: there\u2019s the Muse Ring One<\/a> ($323), the Dreame Ring<\/a>, and the Vocci AI ring<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RingConn<\/a> announced its third-generation ring, with blood pressure insights (I\u2019m skeptical) and haptic alerts, including the ability to buzz for a smart alarm (I\u2019m intrigued). This one isn\u2019t on the market yet, and a rep at the booth asked me what price I thought it should go for. In the meantime, RingConn gave me a gen 2 ring to compare to Oura and others\u2014watch for my review soon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watches (mostly) aren\u2019t exciting anymore<\/p>\n

\"Nutrition<\/p>\n

Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

The companies that make smartwatches and fitness watches tend to be on their own release cycles, not necessarily tied to CES. Apple certainly wasn\u2019t going to announce a new Apple Watch; Google and Fitbit didn\u2019t show up, either. Amazfit had a new watch, the Active Max<\/a> ($169) in its lineup, but it was more of a refinement to the product line than a new exciting announcement.<\/p>\n

The only real exception I can think of is Pebble, but you\u2019ve heard from me already<\/a> on why it bucks the trend. I got to go hands-on with the Time 2 (announced last year) and the Round 2 (announced last week), which was so thin and sleek it made the Coros on my wrist feel like a big ol\u2019 hunk of plastic. As a reminder, the Round 2 doesn\u2019t have a heart rate monitor and Pebble is trying not to be a fitness watch brand. (I\u2019m still looking forward to reviewing its watches anyway.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pebble<\/p>\n

\n Pebble Time 2
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

I think the main reason for the stagnation here is that watches already have everything they need to have for fitness and health tracking. There’s not a lot of room left to innovate; either you give a device slightly better battery life (nice, but yawn) or you stick something else into it just to say you did\u2014like a flashlight or a microphone. That’s nothing against flashlights or microphones, which are both great in context, but we’re hardly in game-changing territory anymore. Companies like Oura and Whoop are pivoting to services like blood tests<\/a> that take the focus off their hardware. My colleague Stephen Johnson said it best: tech launches don’t feel magical anymore<\/a>, partly because we don’t have many problems left that consumer tech can easily solve, and partly because every new advice adds a hassle to your life. <\/p>\n

And so Garmin\u2019s main announcement this weekend was a nutrition tracking feature<\/a> in its Connect+ subscription. I thought at least there was a good chance of a new watch from Garmin\u2014nope. Garmin announced<\/a> the Instinct 3 at last year\u2019s CES, but no new hardware this year besides a camera system for truckers<\/a> (I\u2019m happy for them).\u00a0<\/p>\n

What do you think so far?<\/p>\n

A few other companies used the buzz around CES to announce non-hardware developments as well: Oura is finally shipping the charging case<\/a> it promised last fall, and Ultrahuman announced a limited-time free tier of its blood testing service<\/a> with 20+ markers. Its other tiers give you 50+ markers for $99, or a 100+ marker test followed by a 60+ marker follow-up test for $365. (Ultrahuman told me that the exact blood tests it’s able to offer vary slightly by state, hence the vague numbers.)<\/p>\n

AI was present, but not center stage<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

\n A prototype of Amazfit’s V1TAL camera, which analyzes the food on your plate
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

There were, of course, plenty of mentions that \u201cAI\u201d is baked into this or that fitness app. But the companies mostly seemed to understand that while AI might help to create features their users want, users don\u2019t buy devices for the AI. (See also: Dell executives commenting that its customers don\u2019t seem to want AI<\/a>, and that it has adjusted the marketing for its computers to de-emphasize it.)<\/p>\n

I heard at CES that apps are using AI to identify foods from photos (Garmin and Amazfit) or that AI is helping to find patterns in data (basically everybody). Merach did say it would let me try an AI-powered treadmill<\/a>, but a rep apologetically told me the device wasn\u2019t available in time to ship the prototype to CES.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019re trying to make exoskeletons happen<\/p>\n

\"Me<\/p>\n

\n The Sumbu hip-based exoskeleton
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki\n <\/p>\n

Exoskeletons were the biggest new-to-me trend at CES. These are devices that you strap on to your body, and their motors give an added boost to what your muscles are doing. Several of the companies described them as being like an e-bike for walking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I gave myself a side quest of trying every exoskeleton that was available to demo. That ended up being a total of six: four that assisted you at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. One device made by Ascentiz<\/a> ($1,299-$1,848) can be configured with combined hip and knee action, but the knee module wasn\u2019t available for me to test.<\/p>\n

All six devices really did give me a boost while walking (or climbing stairs\u2014several of the companies wisely included a mini staircase in their booths to try out). But I have to wonder who the exoskeletons are really for. If you\u2019re not a serious hiker, an exoskeleton might help you hike up a mountain and keep up with your friends. But I\u2019d think that only a serious hiker would have $1,000+ to spend on hiking gear like an exoskeleton\u2014and that they would probably prefer to train harder and spend the money on something else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I had to predict where this tech is going, I think the rental market makes the most sense. Imagine if you could borrow the Ascentiz for a scenic hike on vacation without having to train for months ahead of time, or strap on Dephy\u2019s<\/a> \u201cpowered footwear\u201d ($4,500) to get you through a day at Disneyworld.<\/p>\n