This year’s event leaned more toward refinement than spectacle. Apple stayed absent, Fitbit and Garmin had little to say. But Withings, Zepp Health, Mobvoi and others used the stage to push the conversation forward.

The themes were clear: better insight into your long-term health, more natural interaction with devices, and fresh ideas about what wearables can actually look like. AI was everywhere, embedded into everything from sensors to software, turning once-passive devices into active coaching tools.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights. For more details, check out our complete CES 2026 coverage.

Withings focuses on longevity and glucose

Withings came into CES with two announcements that build on its long-term health ambitions.

Body Scan 2 is the company’s new flagship smart scale. It tracks over 60 metrics including heart age, arterial stiffness, nerve activity and visceral fat. It looks similar to the original Body Scan but includes a new dual-frequency BIA sensor, updated ECG functionality and improved metabolic algorithms. A scan takes just 90 seconds and gives a high-level view of your current cardiovascular and metabolic state. European availability began at the start of January, with US launch expected later pending regulatory clearance.

In parallel, Withings announced a partnership with Abbott. The Lingo continuous glucose monitor now syncs natively to the Withings app, allowing users to combine real-time glucose trends with their weight, activity and sleep data. This should make it easier to spot patterns and tweak behaviour without switching between multiple platforms.

RingConn Gen 3 adds haptics and health trends

The third generation of the RingConn smart ring made its debut at the show. While it doesn’t radically change the look or feel of the hardware, it adds a few features.

One of the biggest changes is the addition of haptic feedback. Users will be able to receive subtle vibration alerts for things like high heart rate, completed activity goals or bedtime reminders. This should make the ring feel more like an interactive tool rather than just a passive tracker. Blood pressure trend tracking will also be added. Instead of offering isolated readings.

Mind you, the device is not available for purchase just yet. But expect a launch later this year.

Luna and Mobvoi explore voice as a primary interface

Two companies stood out for going all in on voice-driven interaction.

Luna Band is a display-free wearable that focuses on spoken health tracking. It listens to your voice, responds with audio feedback and removes the need to look at an app. You can ask it for sleep advice, log how you’re feeling or get reminders to move. It runs on Luna’s own LifeOS platform and includes stress, HRV and sleep monitoring under the hood. All data stays local and there are no subscription fees.

Mobvoi took a different route with the TicNote Watch. The device builds on Wear OS but prioritises speech over screens. It captures voice notes, transcribes them and can even translate in real time. This isn’t just a smartwatch that records runs. It is designed for logging thoughts, recording context and turning voice input into something more useful than a daily summary.

Zepp Health brings glanceable data and food tracking into view

Zepp Health used CES to showcase two very different ideas. The first was Amazfit Helio Glasses, a heads-up display designed for runners and cyclists. The glasses project pace, heart rate and navigation prompts directly into your field of view. This means you don’t need to glance at your wrist mid-stride. The concept is still in development but shows the company has interest in lightweight alternatives to mixed-reality headsets.

The second was V1tal, a wearable camera that captures your meals. It’s designed to track food intake by analysing plate photos, then estimating macronutrients using AI. This builds on the company’s broader push into metabolic awareness and complements existing fitness tracking features in the Zepp Health app. It’s not yet in market, but feels like a logical next step.

Moto Watch returns with Polar tech

Motorola re-entered the smartwatch scene with a new Wear OS device built around Polar algorithms. The watch, which features a 1.43-inch OLED display and a stainless steel frame, brings back the Moto brand for a more health-focused audience. It includes Polar’s cardio load, training benefit and recovery metrics, plus VO2 Max and sleep tracking.

The design is clean and simple. The focus here is clearly on bringing sports science into a more mainstream smartwatch package.

Nuralogix and regulatory shifts point to what’s next

Outside of the bigger launches, CES 2026 included a few devices that hint at where health tracking could go next and how it might be regulated.

One of the more unusual examples was Nuralogix’s Longevity Mirror. This wall-mounted display estimates biological age, cardiovascular risk and metabolic health by analysing subtle changes in facial blood flow. There is no contact required. You simply stand in front of the mirror for around 30 seconds while it uses the company’s Anura AI platform to process over 80 biomarkers.

Its launch coincided with new guidance from the US FDA. The agency clarified that wellness-focused wearables and tracking tools can avoid medical device regulation as long as they steer clear of diagnostic claims. Products that focus on general wellness, such as sleep quality, stress, fitness or long-term trends, can continue without formal clearance.

That creates room for new ideas. Devices like the Longevity Mirror are unlikely to replace medical tests but could become part of a broader shift toward ambient tracking. Health monitoring may soon be built into mirrors, displays or other objects around the home, capturing data in the background and surfacing insights when needed.

Wearable tech at CES 2026 felt more embedded, less showy. Instead of trying to replace your phone or PC, most of these devices aim to support real behaviour change, often in the background. From glucose and sleep to mood and meals, the trend is clear: the next wave of wearables is less about adding features and more about making the ones we have easier to act on.

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Mobvoi pivots to AI-first wearables

The company has spent years refining its Wear OS-based TicWatch line. But the TicNote Watch marks a different direction entirely. While the company isn’t abandoning wearables, it’s clearly stepping back from the fitness-first approach that shaped its earlier offerings. Instead, it’s now anchoring its strategy around voice, productivity and cloud collaboration, with TicNote Watch acting as the wearable hub for this new system.

The watch is part of a broader product family that includes TicNote (a dedicated recorder), TicNote Pods (AI-powered 4G earbuds), and TicNote Cloud, a platform designed to process, organize, and act on real-world conversation data. It’s a different kind of ecosystem. One aimed less at step counts and more at turning meetings, ideas and spoken intent into outcomes.

What TicNote Watch is designed to do

At its core, the watch functions as a fast-access voice recorder. You press a button and start capturing whatever’s happening. Unlike other smartwatches that rely on companion apps or phone sync, this one handles everything on the wrist. You get live transcription. You get real-time translation. And you get summaries, reminders, and notifications tied to your day.

But what makes it interesting is how this information doesn’t stay trapped on the device. TicNote Watch is built to connect directly with Mobvoi’s new cloud platform. That’s where the voice events you’ve captured can be analyzed in the context of your daily movement, biometric data, and tasks. It’s less about logging what was said, and more about figuring out what it means and what to do next.

Mobvoi also claims that the system can generate insights by blending health data with spoken input. That could mean anything from connecting a stressful conversation with an elevated heart rate, to flagging moments of fatigue based on changes in voice tone, movement, or speech pace.

This suggests the company hasn’t entirely walked away from health features. But it’s repackaging them into something more contextual, rather than building a health dashboard in the traditional sense.

How the other TicNote devices fit in

The rest of the TicNote lineup supports the same vision. The TicNote recorder is the simplest of the bunch, built for high-fidelity capture during meetings or interviews. The TicNote Pods, on the other hand, are Mobvoi’s first AI earbuds with built-in 4G connectivity. They work even without a phone, offering ambient and in-ear recording modes depending on whether you’re in a call or sitting in a room full of people.

These devices feed directly into TicNote Cloud, which is where Mobvoi wants the action to happen. Files aren’t static. They evolve. The AI (called Shadow Agent 2.0) doesn’t just summarize, it builds structured documents, updates them over time and helps manage projects in real-time.

Our takeaway

Mobvoi’s TicNote Watch is unlikely to appeal to the same audience that buys a Garmin, Suunto or Fitbit. This isn’t a training tool. It’s not about VO2Max or sleep stages. But it does reflect something broader happening in wearables: the shift from passive sensors to active collaboration.

Instead of focusing purely on step counts or heart rate, Mobvoi is trying to link voice, context and intent. That’s a very different proposition. And it’s also a sign that the definition of a smartwatch is starting to stretch in new directions.

The TicNote Watch doesn’t yet have an official release date. But with TicNote Pods already live on Kickstarter, and the rest of the ecosystem in place, it’s likely not far off.

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The Lingo CGM is an over-the-counter sensor that sits on the skin and continuously tracks blood glucose trends. While originally designed for people with diabetes or prediabetes, this latest push targets a broader user base looking to manage energy, mood and weight through better glucose awareness.

Why this matters for metabolic health

Continuous glucose tracking is no longer just about diabetes management. It’s increasingly seen as a general health tool. Fluctuating glucose can affect energy, sleep, and cognitive function. Stable patterns are associated with better metabolic outcomes and lower risk of long-term conditions like insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.

Withings says this partnership brings a new layer of metabolic insight into its platform. Existing devices like its smart scales and watches already track over 90 health biomarkers, from vascular age to body composition. Glucose adds a dynamic, real-time component to that data set, offering users immediate feedback on how their lifestyle affects their physiology.

This approach mirrors what other companies in the space are doing. Garmin, Oura, and others are all exploring integrations rather than trying to build glucose sensors themselves. That’s partly because reliable non-invasive CGMs don’t exist yet. Until they do, working with established players like Abbott makes more sense.

I tried something similar myself with the Ultrahuman M1 Live and found it surprisingly useful. Being able to see how my glucose levels reacted to workouts, meals or even poor sleep made a big difference. It actually helped me connect the dots between energy dips, recovery and what I’d done earlier in the day. Granted, it does make you a bit overly obsessed about your data!

How to access the feature

Users in the US can sync their glucose data to the Withings app by connecting Abbott Lingo to Apple Health or Health Connect. Direct integration via API is coming soon, which will allow data to flow directly from the Lingo app to Withings without relying on third-party bridges.

Lingo sensors are already available for purchase via the Withings website at $89 for a pack that includes two biosensors. The goal is to make this type of tracking accessible for anyone curious about how their body responds to food, activity, or stress.

According to Withings founder Eric Carreel, the vision is simple: put as much useful information as possible into one app, so people don’t have to jump between platforms. That includes insights on arterial stiffness, fat mass, sleep, heart rate, and now, glucose.

Withings, like others, is leaning into that curiosity. The Lingo integration is just the latest in a series of moves toward making the app a one-stop hub for personal health tracking. And for users already in the ecosystem, it’s a logical next step.

The company also debuted their Body Scan 2 at CES 2026. This is a smart health scale that promises clinical-grade insights from a 90-second full-body scan. The device collects a multitude of biomarkers in one session, using a combination of bioimpedance spectroscopy, impedance cardiography and ECG to track cellular age, cardiovascular efficiency, arterial stiffness and more.

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Eli adds testosterone and progesterone to its real-time hormone tracker

Eli Health is building momentum after the launch of its instant cortisol test last year. This time around it’s testosterone and progesterone joining the lineup. The company’s goal is simple but ambitious: to give people real-time access to hormone data that’s historically been slow, inconvenient and tied to clinics.

The new testosterone test can be done with saliva, takes just a few minutes, and sends results straight to the user’s phone. That’s a big shift from traditional lab testing, which only offers a one-time snapshot. Testosterone doesn’t stay constant. It shifts with stress, sleep, training and even diet. With Eli’s app and testing system, those patterns become visible and trackable in daily life.

Eli says its saliva-based approach focuses on free testosterone, which is the biologically active form. This is the one most closely linked to energy, libido, strength, motivation, as well as mood in both men and women. But it’s often missing from standard blood panels or only tested occasionally.

Progesterone tracking catches up with the times

The second product Eli is bringing to market is its saliva-based progesterone test. This one is aimed at solving a well-known gap in women’s health. Progesterone has always been tricky to monitor. It fluctuates quickly, requires well-timed blood draws to interpret correctly, and is usually treated as a fertility-specific hormone despite its much wider role in sleep, mood, body temperature, and long-term health.

Eli’s progesterone test is built for regular use. Users spit, scan, and get results in minutes – then watch how the numbers shift over time inside the Eli app. That ongoing visibility could be useful across cycle tracking, perimenopause transitions or just better understanding how hormones play into how someone feels day to day.

Availability and pricing

The idea of tracking multiple hormones side-by-side is where things get interesting. Cortisol, testosterone, and progesterone don’t operate in isolation. Cortisol in particular can suppress the other two. That means understanding one signal in a vacuum isn’t enough. By combining real-time data across all three, Eli is trying to show how stress, sleep, training, and recovery intersect with endocrine signals.

Third-party validation studies suggest the platform tracks with over 90% accuracy against lab standards. What’s different here isn’t just speed. It’s the ability to see the full picture in context.

The new testosterone and progesterone tests are now available for pre-order on Eli’s website. Shipping is expected in Q1 2026. Each test starts at $8.25 and works with Eli’s app, which guides users through measurement and interpretation. The existing cortisol test is already available in the US and Canada, with both one-off and subscription options.

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FDA shifts focus to high-risk claims, not general wellness

The announcement came on January 6 during a keynote by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Speaking at CES 2026 and later on Fox Business, he laid out a vision that aims to keep government oversight out of the way for tools that simply promote healthier lifestyles. That includes the vast majority of fitness trackers, heart rate monitors and sleep tools on the market today.

This isn’t a blanket free pass. If a wearable claims to diagnose or manage a disease, that still pulls it into regulated territory. But if it just tracks metrics like steps, resting heart rate, or estimated sleep stages, without promising clinical-grade accuracy or medical outcomes, it stays exempt.

Makary made the agency’s position clear. The FDA wants to match “the speed of Silicon Valley,” giving more predictability to tech companies and investors. The key dividing line is risk. Low-risk wellness tools are safe to innovate around, even if they overlap with features found in regulated medical devices.

Where the line gets enforced

The updated guidance makes specific reference to blood pressure estimation, drawing from last year’s warning letter to WHOOP. The company had begun surfacing systolic and diastolic estimates through its Blood Pressure Insights feature. The FDA responded by saying that crossed into medical device claims. Estimating a figure is not a problem on its own, but using that figure to suggest someone might be hypertensive triggers regulatory scrutiny.

In other words, you can show someone a number. But if you tell them what to do with it, and it sounds like medical advice, you’ve entered a different category.

The new rules also cover AI models. The agency clarified that large-scale AI tools like ChatGPT or Google’s search results are generally safe from FDA crackdowns, even if users ask about symptoms. As long as the software is not intended to treat, diagnose, or recommend a clinical course of action, it falls outside the agency’s scope.

That doesn’t mean anything goes. Makary said the FDA would still step in if a product creates safety concerns. One example would be if a consumer stops or adjusts medication based on feedback from an unregulated device.

Investors and developers take notice

The market reacted quickly. Shares of glucose monitor manufacturers Dexcom, Abbott, and Medtronic all rose modestly after the announcement. Garmin also saw a nearly 3% bump, reflecting the clearer landscape now facing fitness-focused tech.

For developers, this guidance confirms what many had already suspected. The FDA is more concerned about what companies claim than what their sensors measure. Calling your data “medical grade” comes with strings attached. Calling it a wellness insight leaves you in safer territory.

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Hardware feels more premium than expected

Starting with the hardware, and the new device is built around a 47mm case, which gives it a fairly masculine form-factor. It uses an aluminum frame paired with a stainless steel chassis and crown. Gorilla Glass 3 sits over the 1.43-inch circular OLED display, which is bright enough for both indoor and outdoor use.

The whole thing is water and dust resistant, with IP68 and 1ATM certification. That should make it safe for everyday wear, including sweat, rain, and the odd splash. Motorola is shipping the watch in a matte grey tone they’re calling “Volcanic Ash,” with a silicone band to match. The strap uses standard 22mm lugs, so swapping it out won’t be a problem.

It also includes a built-in speaker and mic, which is handy for taking calls or using voice features without needing your phone in hand.

Motorola is quoting up to 13 days under typical use, or about seven days with the always-on display turned on. That’s quite a bit more than what most full-screen watches manage these days. It also supports fast charging, with a five-minute top-up giving you around a full day of use. That’s helpful if you forget to charge before heading out.

It looks like Wear OS but isn’t

This isn’t a Wear OS device. Motorola has opted for its own stripped-down operating system. Hence the excellent battery life.

There’s no app store and no support for third-party apps. But visually, it borrows heavily from Google’s design language. You get tiles you can swipe through, a quick settings shade at the top, and notifications at the bottom. The app drawer even follows the same circular layout.

It’s a UI that should feel familiar, but it stays lightweight by skipping the heavy integrations. The benefit is longer battery life and simpler day-to-day performance.

Polar handles the health side

As we saw in the initial announcement, Motorola has teamed up with Polar to handle the health and fitness side of things. And that shows in the feature set.

Workout tracking includes a built-in dual-frequency GPS chip, which should offer better accuracy than single-band systems. There’s a smart calorie logging feature that breaks down energy burned by activity type. The watch also tracks daily intensity and builds it into an “Activity Score,” which gives you a quick snapshot of how much you’ve moved.

It sends idle alerts when you’ve been sitting too long, and there’s full sleep tracking with breakdowns of REM, light, and deep stages. The “Nightly Recharge” metric uses sleep and autonomic recovery data to give insight into how your body’s bouncing back from daily stress.

This is the same recovery system used in Polar’s own devices, so it’s encouraging to see it here.

Launch is just around the corner

The Moto Watch is due to land in the US on January 22. It’ll be sold through Motorola’s own website. Pricing is expected to be around the $100 mark, with an extra $50 for the premium version. Based on the stripped-back OS and Polar’s software, this seems pitched more as a fitness-first watch than a full smartwatch.

That makes sense given what Motorola and Polar are each bringing to the table. It’s not trying to compete with Galaxy Watch or Pixel Watch in terms of app ecosystems. Instead, it’s banking on strong hardware, long battery life, and trusted fitness features to hit a different sweet spot.

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Vibration alerts, blood pressure trends

It is not easy to fit a vibration motor into something the size of a ring. But that is, apparently, what the company has managed to achieve. This is one of the biggest upgrades of Gen 3. It brings smart haptic feedback directly to the ring, allowing for on-finger alerts without needing to check your phone. Whether it’s a high heart rate warning, inactivity nudge or other real-time signal, the Gen 3 can notify you instantly in a more discreet way.

Another new feature is blood pressure tracking, though it won’t be active at launch. RingConn says it will roll out as a software update later on. The focus here is on trend detection over time, not medical-grade spot checks. It’s meant to help identify subtle shifts rather than replace a cuff-based monitor. The feature has actually been in Beta testing for a few months now, and will also be coming to Gen 2 devices.

Battery and platform stay solid

Battery life has been improved over the Gen 2, thanks to internal tweaks. You can now expect more than 13 days, so slightly more than on Gen 2.

The foundation from previous generations remains in place. That includes continuous heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking with staging, HRV insights, activity metrics and recovery scores. Also mentioned in the promotional material are menstrual health and fertility insights along with sleep apnea monitoring.

Crucially, RingConn is sticking with its no-subscription approach. You pay once and get access to the full feature set. That keeps it appealing in a market where others have shifted to paid tiers for advanced metrics.

Polished, not overhauled

The Gen 3 now comes in five colorways across three finishes: Brushed Silver, Brushed Rose Gold, Polished Future Silver, Royal Gold and Matte Black. The first two are new. RingConn has also expanded its sizing range, which now spans from size 6 to 15 (current Gen 6 to 14), giving more people a better chance at a comfortable fit.

The company hasn’t reinvented its smart ring, and it didn’t need to. Gen 3 adds some nice upgrades like haptics, lays the groundwork for blood pressure insights and tightens up the design. It continues to play to the brand’s strengths, particularly the balance between solid hardware and a one-time purchase model.

I reviewed both the Gen 2 and Gen 2 Air rings, and they still stand among the best smart ring options available today. The hardware is dependable, and the smartphone app had evolved into a capable, well-rounded platform. Gen 3 feels like a nice continuation of that effort.

It will be interesting to see whether any of the tech has shifted under the surface, following RingConn’s 2025 licensing agreement with Oura. That deal gave RingConn access to a set of patents and software frameworks. But with a sufficient redesign, perhaps it may not need to have a licensing deal for Gen 3.

Via: Android Authority, r/SmartRings

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Among the growing list of performance-focused wearables, Helio Glasses stand out because they try to solve a simple problem in a very direct way. Runners and cyclists often glance down at their wrist mid-effort to check pace or heart rate. That moment of distraction is usually brief, but it can still affect form, awareness or even safety. Helio’s idea is to remove that need entirely by placing your data in front of you, just inside your field of vision.

A heads-up display for runners and cyclists

This early concept is meant for outdoor athletes who want real-time stats without the break in concentration. When paired with an Amazfit smartwatch, the Helio Glasses project pace, heart rate, and even navigation data into your forward view. You stay locked in and moving, with no downward glance required.

The units on show at CES are still very much prototypes. But the glasses will be lightweight, built with impact-resistant polycarbonate, and water- and sweat-resistant. Battery life has been tuned for endurance sessions, with Zepp Health saying it should easily last through a full marathon.

Controls are kept simple. You can adjust settings using buttons on the frame, or just manage things from your paired Amazfit watch. The idea is to avoid fiddling mid-run and let the glasses do their job quietly in the background.

A growing category of glanceable data glasses

Helio isn’t the only device trying to solve the wrist-glancing problem. ENGO 2 has been around for a while, using ActiveLook tech to show pace, heart rate, and distance right in your line of sight. It works with a bunch of watches and cycling computers, and it’s built specifically for endurance sports. It’s light, simple, and does exactly what most runners or riders need without overcomplicating things.

Form is another name that often comes up, but it’s a different story. Their smart goggles are built for swimmers, showing stroke rate, splits, and other data while you’re underwater. So while the idea is similar, put stats where your eyes are, it’s not aimed at runners.

Helio follows the same stripped-back approach. It’s not trying to replace your watch or act like a full-on AR headset. You wear it, it shows you what you need, and that’s it.

Not for sale just yet

Zepp Health has made it clear this is not a product launch. The Helio Glasses are concept-only for now, with a tentative target of the second half of 2026 if development stays on track. Details like pricing, hardware specs and final design are still up in the air.

Still, it is an interesting direction. And given how common it is to see runners and cyclists lifting their wrist mid-activity, it’s not hard to see the appeal. Whether the execution lives up to the idea remains to be seen.

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CES 2026 has brought its usual mix of useful, odd and unexpected tech, and Zepp Health landed somewhere right in the middle. The V1tal Food Camera is a compact, flip-open device that sits next to your plate and captures your meals as you eat. It uses periodic image capture to estimate ingredients, portion sizes and calories, sending that data to the Zepp app where it becomes part of your overall health profile.

Mind you, the thing still lives in the concept zone – but this is no throwaway idea. Zepp Health seems serious about turning food into a measurable, trackable metric.

What has changed since CES 2025

V1tal first appeared at CES last year in a behind-the-scenes demo. Back then, it looked more like a rough pitch than a product. This year, it was out in the open on the show floor, with a more confident presentation and defined functionality.

You place the device about 20 to 25 cm from your meal, activate Dining Mode, and eat as normal. The camera discreetly captures images at intervals, then syncs them to the Zepp app where Amazfit’s AI estimates what you ate, how much of it you consumed and what was left over. You can make edits if needed.

Zepp Health has confirmed that the device does not record sound and faces are blurred. For now, this remains a prototype, and the company has not committed to a release date, price or final hardware configuration.

It’s a simple process that could save you a ton of time compared to the usual manual food tracking methods.

Going beyond calorie tracking

What sets V1tal apart is that it is not just estimating macronutrients. It also pays attention to how you eat. That includes speed, skipped components of a meal and potentially patterns over time. From there, it can suggest improvements, like slowing down or eating more balanced meals.

The data links with other Amazfit devices via the Zepp app. That means users can track activity, recovery and sleep alongside calorie intake, all inside the same system. The goal is to build a more connected health experience, one that doesn’t require you to juggle multiple apps or enter food data manually.

It is worth noting that Zepp Health has already updated its app with a photo-based food logging feature. At first it looked like a minor addition aimed at smartwatch users. But V1tal changes the tone. This is clearly a step toward a more ambitious, AI-driven nutrition platform.

Competition is heating up

Garmin announced its own approach to nutrition just yesterday. Its new Nutrition feature, built into the Connect app, allows users to log meals, receive timing suggestions and connect food intake with training goals. The Garmin approach is fully app-based. Zepp Health, on the other hand, is trying to skip the phone entirely.

That puts the V1tal into an emerging category of health tech focused on passive data capture. You do less, the system observes more. Whether people are ready to be watched while they eat is another question entirely.

A bigger push from Zepp Health into health tech

Zepp Health has recently updated its food logging feature in the Amazfit smartphone app. Still in Beta, we were under the impression this was designed for smartwatches. But the company clearly has bolder ambitions. While the app update potentially makes food tracking a bit less of a hassle, the V1tal could take things a step further by doing all the work for you, capturing meals in real time and offering deeper insights into your eating habits.

A glimpse at Zepp Health’s bigger strategy

I’ve tried plenty of food tracking apps over the years. None of them stuck. Manually entering meals or scanning barcodes is always a chore. I am not entirely sold on the idea of being filmed while eating, but if the camera really can get the details right without effort, I might be willing to give it a try. It is definitely one of the stranger ideas at CES this year. But sometimes those are the ones that stick.

V1tal is not the only forward-looking concept Amazfit brought to CES 2026. The company also previewed the Amazfit Helio Glasses, a lightweight heads-up display for runners. Paired with an Amazfit watch, the glasses show pace, heart rate and navigation directly in your field of view.

There was also the announcement of the Amazfit Active Max, a new member of the Active line featuring a 1.5-inch display, 5 ATM water resistance and more than 170 sport modes. It is positioned as a versatile training tool for everyday athletes.

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The company’s CEO has hinted back in October a new partnership is coming. This appears to be it.

A new partner joins the Polar platform

While Motorola hasn’t officially revealed the watch just yet, there is talk a Moto Watch 360 is around the corner. All that has been confirmed is that the new watch will offer a 47mm aluminum frame with a stainless steel crown, a Gorilla Glass 3 lens, IP68 water resistance rated at 1 ATM, and on-device audio hardware including a microphone and speaker.

This new partnership signals a step forward for both companies. Polar will provide the software backbone for health and activity tracking, allowing Motorola to deliver deeper insights without needing to develop its own physiological engine.

The device will include Polar’s capabilities in sleep monitoring, training feedback, recovery status, and more. These algorithms have been validated over decades through Polar’s own wearables and refined using data from millions of users.

It’s a familiar smartwatch form factor, but with a stronger focus on health tracking. Motorola will be tapping into Polar’s existing library of metrics, which were built through long-term research rather than quick software iteration.

Polar continues to extend its reach

This partnership is part of a broader shift for Polar. Rather than limiting its technology to its own hardware, the company has started licensing it out. The “Powered by Polar” initiative is central to this approach. It gives other brands access to Polar’s tested algorithms, from training load and recovery analysis to readiness scores and sleep quality breakdowns.

Casio was among the first to join. Its G‑Shock GBD‑H2000 line included Polar’s software, blending rugged hardware with fitness tracking depth. Jabra has also used Polar features in fitness earbuds. These deals show how Polar’s presence has quietly expanded across different product categories.

Motorola adds another dimension to that list. The brand is best known for its phones, but its entry into wellness-focused wearables backed by Polar marks a shift toward more meaningful health integration.

What to expect next

The Moto Watch has not yet been officially unveiled, and launch timing is still unclear. But the announcement of the partnership confirms that Motorola is serious about deepening the health experience on its next wearable. It won’t just be about notifications or step counts.

For Polar, this continues a trend. Instead of trying to compete with every brand directly through hardware, the company is positioning itself as a trusted foundation for others. That’s likely to mean more deals like this in future, especially as wearables evolve into broader health companions. It represents a great alternative source of income for the outfit.

The Moto Watch will be the first time Polar’s platform appears inside a Motorola product. Judging by the press release, this will likely be the start of a long-term collaboration between the two companies.

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The post CES 2026: Motorola partners with Polar for upcoming smartwatch appeared first on Gadgets & Wearables.