5 reasons the Fitbit Edge is everything the Fitbit Air should've been

Published Oct 8, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Sanuj is a freelance tech journalist with over six years of experience covering smartphones, wearables, and consumer technology. He currently writes for Android Police, Tom's Guide, Android Central, Android Authority, and Pocket-lint. He has previously contributed to publications like Pocketnow and MakeUseOf. Since the start of 2025 alone, he has tested over 30 smartphones. He has also attended major global trade shows including MWC (2024, 2025, 2026) and IFA (2024, 2025), along with launch events hosted by Google, Samsung, and other leading Android brands. When he's not writing about tech, you'll find him sipping a cup of chai, scrolling Twitter, and reading updates about his favorite football club, Chelsea FC. Feel free to reach out to him via email at sanujb6 [at] gmail [dot] com. It's been a fascinating year for Google's smartwatch and wearables department. The company launched one of the best Android smartwatches with the Google Pixel Watch 5, and it expanded its Fitbit lineup with a compelling Whoop competitor in the Fitbit Air. Having used both the Fitbit Air and Whoop MG, Google's $99 wearable left me impressed. You get access to all-day passive health tracking, with most key metrics not locked behind a subscription. Still, the Fitbit Air isn't the perfect wearable for me. Google is now tipped to expand its Fitbit lineup again with the rumored Fitbit Edge launching later this month. If the leaks are anything to go by, this might be the Fitbit I've been waiting for. The tiny display fixes my biggest Fitbit Air complaint I don't want a smartwatch, but I do miss glanceable information I've been on the bandwagon that screenless fitness trackers are better than owning a full-fledged smartwatch for quite a while. I used Whoop for over a year and have been wearing the Fitbit Air for more than four months. While I've been happy living without another distracting screen on my wrist, there are moments when I want something quickly glanceable. That's exactly what the Fitbit Edge is reportedly going to fix. According to the leaks, the Fitbit Edge will feature a small oval-shaped display on top. It won't be as large as something like the Pixel Watch 5, but it'll reportedly show the essentials, including the date, time, steps, heart rate, and other basic information. The Fitbit Air showed me that I don't need a smartwatch, but it also showed me that going completely screenless has its drawbacks. This is something I miss on the Fitbit Air. A small display for these things, plus the rumored ability to show calls and notifications from a few apps like Google Maps and YouTube Music, would be lovely. I've missed a few calls over the past few months because the Fitbit Air doesn't alert me, and there are times when I want to glance at my wrist to check the time. I don't need a full smartwatch for that, but a tiny display would go a long way. A screen doesn't seem to come at the cost of battery life Seven-day battery life could make the Fitbit Edge the perfect middle ground One part of the Fitbit Edge leak that has me excited is that Google is reportedly still targeting seven days of battery life. That isn't official, but Google also claims seven days for the Fitbit Air, and in my experience, it slightly over-delivers on that promise. The possibility of getting similar battery life despite adding a small display is exciting. The Fitbit Edge also appears to be relatively small and lightweight, which means it shouldn't cause much fatigue when worn all day. A week-long battery life alongside that small display could be the perfect middle ground between the Fitbit Air and a full-fledged smartwatch. iPhone support makes the Fitbit Edge much more useful I can keep the same health tracker even when I switch phones Similar to the Fitbit Air, the Fitbit Edge is rumored to support Android and iOS devices. Since it isn't part of the Google Pixel Watch lineup, you should be able to pair it with most any Android phone as well as an iPhone. That makes the wearable more enticing to me. I frequently switch between devices, including iPhones, and using the same daily health tracker regardless of the smartphone I'm carrying is incredibly useful. Still, I wish Google would bring the same compatibility to the Pixel Watch. Being able to use a Pixel Watch properly with an iPhone would be a big deal. The rumored price puts it right in the sweet spot It sits neatly between the $99 Fitbit Air and $400 Pixel Watch 5 No concrete leaks have confirmed the Fitbit Edge's exact price yet, but reports suggest it could land somewhere between $149 and $199. That's around the same price bracket as the Fitbit Charge 6 started at, and in 2026, I think that could make the Fitbit Edge a compelling successor. It wouldn't come close to the Pixel Watch 5, which now starts at a whopping $400 for the Wi-Fi model, while still sitting comfortably above the $99 Fitbit Air. If Google can hit that price while offering the small display, week-long battery life, and its latest health tracking features, I think the Fitbit Edge could hit a sweet spot in Google's wearable lineup. Health Guardian could be Fitbit Edge's secret weapon Google's newest health features make a passive tracker much more interesting Another reason I'm looking forward to the Fitbit Edge is Google's rapidly expanding Health Guardian suite. Google is introducing health features that some of its biggest wearable competitors don't offer. We recently saw blood pressure trends arrive on the Pixel Watch, and Google has confirmed they're coming to the Fitbit Air. That makes it likely that the Fitbit Edge will support them. I think these kinds of features make more sense on a passive health tracker. Unlike a Pixel Watch, which you may need to take off more often to charge, something like the Fitbit Edge could stay on your wrist day and night, giving Google more consistent data to work with. Add features like insulin resistance trends to the mix, and Google's Health Guardian ecosystem is slowly becoming one of the biggest reasons I'm interested in its wearables. This could finally be the Fitbit I've been waiting for After having used the Fitbit Air for the past few months, I can't wait to see what Google does with the Fitbit Edge. The rumored design looks interesting, and I've always felt that a small display with a few useful functions is the sweet spot for a fitness tracker. Give me the time, health stats, calls, and a few useful notifications without turning the thing into another distracting smartwatch, and I'm happy. I hope Google fixes the step-counting algorithm this time around. That's one of the biggest issues I had with the Fitbit Air and something I had to manually tweak to make it more accurate.