Garmin Venu 3 rumoured release date: is it worth the wait?

At the moment, there is no definitive Garmin Venu 3 release date. And the release schedule of previous Venu models isn’t especially consistent. But it may still offer some clues. 

There was a gap of around one-and-a-half years between the Venu and Venu 2 releases and a two-year gap between the two Sq models. That’s not much to go on, but it does suggest that, nearly two-and-a-half years since the Venu 2 came out, a Venu 3 could be imminent.

And given that Garmin has previously released three Venu devices in September, it’s possible that the Venu 3 will also be released this September or October. 

We can be pretty certain that the Venu 3 is on its way. A report by Gadgets and Wearables in early August spotted a product listing from Malaysia that was dated May 25. That listing also confirmed there will be two models: the Venu 3 and the Venu 3S (the ‘S’ is Garmin’s way of identifying a slightly smaller model).  

A further clue has been spotted by Flo of Fitness Tracker Test, who saw a retailer listing for the Venu 3S, in a “dust rose + soft gold” colour.  

While neither of these gives us a release date, they do indicate that the watch is on the way. And to reiterate, we’d be very surprised if it wasn’t revealed in September or October. 

The Garmin Venu 2 had an RRP of £349.99 when it was released back in 2021. The 2 Plus was a slighter dearer £399.99.  

We’d expect the Venu 3 to be in a similar ballpark. If the price increases too much, it risks making this watch uncompetitive – it’s already priced very similarly to the Apple Watch Series 8 (RRP £419). There may be a price rise to account for new features and inflation, but we’d expect any increase to be minimal. 

Given the lack of concrete information, we’re reliant on looking at previous versions of the Venu watch, plus new features on other Garmin devices, to give us some clues. 

The Venu 2 offered a superb AMOLED display, battery life of almost two weeks, music storage, and access to the excellent Garmin Connect app. The 2 Plus augmented this with a microphone and speaker to enable Bluetooth calls, as well as being the first Garmin watch that allowed ECG (electrocardiogram) readings, to help identify an irregular heart rhythm. 

We’d probably expect all these features to make their way onto the Garmin Venu 3. We’d also expect multi-band GNSS – a highly accurate form of GPS – which is built into most recent Garmin watches. Other fitness metrics introduced on some high-end devices, such as Training Readiness (a more advanced version of the impressive Body Battery) and Morning Report, could also be included – but these are less certain. 

Gadgets and Wearables has provided further insights into possible new features, after revealing some screenshots purportedly from the Garmin Venu 3.

While these don’t show us what the watch will look like, they do provide clues into a couple of new features that may be on the way.

The first of these is skin temperature tracking, a feature that has appeared on a lot of other devices, such as the Apple Watch Series 8 and the Fitbit Charge 5. It’s useful in lots of ways – from potentially identifying when you’re about to fall sick or to alert you to overtraining, it can also be helpful for stress tracking.

The second rumoured feature is sleep coaching, rather than simply telling you how long you slept for. The idea is that the coaching mechanism will explain how much sleep you need, and give you advice on actions you can take to improve your sleep. Sleep tracking in fitness trackers and smartwatches isn’t especially accurate. So we’re excited to see if this provides more useful support.

If you’re considering investing in a new smartwatch, then the smart decision may be for you to wait. The market is extremely competitive; we’ve recently seen Samsung announce the Galaxy Watch 6, while Apple is expected to reveal its Series 9 watch on or around September 12th. There are also rumours about a possible Google Pixel Watch 2 launch in October.  

With all these new devices seemingly en route, we’d suggest that right now might be the worst possible time to buy one. New devices often come with great new features that make them worth waiting for. Or, if you’d still prefer an older model, the price of these often drops after a new version comes out.  

We’ve approached Garmin for comment. Given the quality of the Venu 2, we’re expecting the Venu 3 to be another superb device. It could even be a possible contender for the best smartwatch on the market. We certainly look forward to seeing what it offers when the official details are released. Watch this space…