Garmin admits in latest earnings call CIRQA demand caught it by surprise

Garmin has a rather nice problem on its hands. Demand for its new CIRQA Smart Band has been stronger than expected, and the company is also working to catch up with orders for the Fenix 9 series.

CEO Cliff Pemble shared the details during Garmin’s third-quarter earnings call on October 28. The comments go further than the company’s earlier statement about strong wearable sales, revealing that both product families have generated backlogs and that Garmin is trying to increase production to meet demand.

CIRQA is doing better than Garmin expected

The screenless tracker only launched in July, but it seems to have found an audience rather quickly. Pemble described the situation as a “happy problem”, although it is clearly one Garmin would like to resolve before the holiday shopping season. The company is working to expand production and fulfil outstanding orders, but it did not provide specific sales figures or delivery timelines.

This is an interesting development for a device that represents something quite different from Garmin’s traditional watch business. CIRQA costs $199.99 and competes with screenless trackers such as Whoop and Fitbit Air, while allowing existing Garmin owners to collect health data without wearing a full sports watch throughout the day.

As we noted in our CIRQA versus Fitbit Air comparison, Garmin’s biggest advantage is its existing ecosystem. CIRQA can handle daily health and sleep tracking while a Fenix or Forerunner takes care of more demanding workouts.

Fenix 9 demand is also running ahead

The situation is similar with the Fenix 9 series. Pemble described initial demand as very strong, with Garmin still working through outstanding orders following the launch.

However, the types of buyers are rather different. Garmin says early Fenix purchasers are primarily existing owners upgrading from older watches, typically models more than one generation behind the latest release.

The company expects more first-time buyers to arrive as the Fenix 9 becomes more widely available through retailers. Meanwhile, CIRQA, Vivoactive and entry-level Forerunners are doing more of the work when it comes to attracting completely new customers.

Garmin is also running close to its current manufacturing capacity. The company expects its new Thailand facility to begin production in the first quarter of 2027, giving it more room to handle growing volumes.