Photo Courtesy of Olivia Gehm
By Olivia Gehm
TAMPA, Fla. — On Sept. 9, 2026, Apple announced its newest series of smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 12.
While the development of wearable computers dates back to the early 20th century, many people consider Apple to be a pioneer of the modern smartwatch. However, as other competitors in the fitness industry–such as Garmin and Coros–have stepped up to the plate, many athletes feel that Apple Watch’s offerings don’t measure up.
Coros, a brand geared towards runners, offers detailed training metrics, regarding overall fitness trends and specific data from each workout. 38 year-old distance runner Maria Coveleski said she doesn’t particularly miss using an Apple Watch to track her workouts, and feels that Coros is much better suited to her needs.
“The training data is way more in-depth than Apple,” she said. While she said she still uses her Apple Watch daily for its other smartwatch features, including general health data, Coros has become her go-to for tracking her runs.
It’s not just the runners who are drawn in by the fitness features of other smartwatch brands; Garmin has also captured other endurance athletes such as cyclists and swimmers. 21 year-old University of Tampa student Melinna Wightman finds that her Garmin suits her swimming and cycling needs very well. She also is an avid runner, and said that her Garmin Forerunner 265 is great for tracking all of her health and fitness metrics.
“I have had a Garmin for eight years,” she said. “I would say what I like the most is that it has multiple different, like, modes. I can do running, swimming, biking, it has triathlon mode, biathlon mode. I like all the modes.”
Wightman said she finds the metrics her Garmin provides, such as sleep and recovery, to be mostly accurate.
“I don’t use the suggested workouts, because I feel like that’s not accurate. But other than that, I feel like the recovery is accurate,” she said.
While there are plenty of training metrics available on Garmin and Coros watches that Apple has so far excluded on their models, there are a few reasons why some athletes still prefer an Apple Watch.
Most of these reasons stem from how well-integrated Apple’s devices are with one another, and how likely it is for a third-party app to be supported. For example, Apple Music users are fresh out of luck if they want to leave their phone at home and use a Garmin or Coros to stream music. While other streaming services, such as Spotify, are supported, many athletes who use other Apple devices already have a subscription and library based around Apple Music.
Even some fitness-oriented apps, such as FitBod, are not supported on Garmin. 30 year-old Damon Thomas said he uses the app to track his strength training, and that it does an excellent job providing metrics and suggesting reps.
“I think my Apple Watch is glued to me whenever I work out,” he said.
While the conversation from athletes about Apple Watch tends to surround its quality as a fitness watch, the Apple Watch Series 12 seems to have addressed several of the most common athlete complaints.
First, other than the integration of Apple Intelligence, most of the updated features for this model concern health and fitness, showing that Apple is trying to gear it towards active people more than ever.
Not only will the Series 12 take more frequent heart rate data, but Apple said that their own testing revealed it to have the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Furthermore, this series will include a “readiness” metric, seemingly akin to the recovery tool found on Garmin and Coros models.
While other brands may still have cornered the market of endurance athletes, the Apple Watch Series 12 not only addresses several of the previous models’ shortcomings, but is still a watch that can do a little bit of everything.