by Anura Guruge
on September 17, 2021
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Something just does NOT seem to be right with dear ‘Garmin‘.
We haven’t had an exciting new watch announcements in months. The last watch of significant impact was the ‘Venu 2‘ in April 2021. That was 6-months ago. Yes, I have a Venu 2 & have been wearing it, 24×7, for the last 143-days. [Yes, I keep track of my trackers. Don’t you?]
Quite a few of us have been waiting for the ‘Fenix 7’ (or equivalent). It is due.
I have speculated that the ‘Fenix 7’ MIGHT have been delayed by the horrendous ransomware attack on Garmin last year.
But, I am now beginning to think that there is another MAJOR factor.
The global CHIP SHORTAGE!
Garmin, obviously, cannot be immune. Like all others it too has to be dependent on others for much needed chips & SENSORS. I think that is a big factor though Garmin has yet to publicly say anything about this. Yes, it is possible (as always) that I am wrong.
Contrary to some crazy stuff I have been reading on the Web, I do NOT believe that Garmin’s next major watch — i.e., ‘Fenix 7’ (or equivalent) — will be based on Google’s ‘Wear OS 3‘. No way. Not yet, at least. It will take a quite a bit of work to get all of Garmin’s proprietary software integrated with Wear OS. So, that is not the reason for any delays.
I am getting fairly sure that it has to be the chip shortage.
I keep on checking sources on a daily basis — though I have none within Garmin per se.