According to this report, the shipment volume of the smartwatch market is valued at 43.87 million 2018 and is expected to reach 108.91 million in 2024 which represents 14.5% growth rate. That’s a huge number and a clear pointer that more people are considering a smartwatch as a worthwhile investment. So, if you’re looking for the right smartwatch to buy in 2020, this post is your best guide at least till third-quarter of the year when newer and more advanced models start gracing the market.
In the course of updating this site, I’ve come across a lot of smartwatches, and I can confidently tell you that there has been a significant improvement; technological and design-wise. The key factors driving the smartwatch market remain; fitness tracking awareness among consumers, increased love for the wireless sport and personal assistant. Each of the smartwatches on this list abundantly fulfills all these factors. Moreover, design is also a major deciding factor, and I’ve picked those with the most sophisticated design, stylish, compact and elegant, same with battery life.
At a Glance – Top 10 Best Smartwatches 2020 Compared
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Before we continue, let’s take a quick glance at our smartwatch buying checklist.
Smartwatch Buying Checklist
This a general checklist for buying a smartwatch, as such we take a look at all the factors to be considered when buying a smartwatch which includes; the design, fitness tracking, personal assistant, long battery life, media, cellular connectivity, and price.
- Design:
- Fitness/Activity Tracking:
- Personal Assistant:
- Long Battery Life:
- Media:
- Price:
A nicely designed smartwatch should be sleek, stylish, lightweight and comfortable to wear all day long. It must be a sturdy build too.
Fitness tracking is one of the major contributors to the smartwatch growth. So, a great smartwatch should be well equipped to track your active life comprehensively with a great companion app to help you manage your fitness goals effortlessly.
I presume we all want to stay connected to what matters to us. A great smartwatch should be able to keep you connected to email, calls, social media and other alerts. Voice assistant, IoT, and other nice gestures.
A nice smartwatch has a long battery life that lets you go long on a single charge. A battery life of over 2 days looks great.
No denying, music is life. The ideal smartwatch will allow you to take your favorite tracks with you. A microphone and loudspeaker can be present to add more value.
Cellular Connectivity/Standalone:
Although not everyone likes a standalone smartwatch, this is a very important feature for a lot of people. A standalone smartwatch gives your phone some freedom and brings convenience too especially if you’re a too busy type.
I considered the price too during my research. Although high-end smartwatches dominate the market, there’re still lots of mid-range and low-range with outstanding qualities. This list is a mix of the three.
Top 10 Best Smartwatches 2020
1. Apple Watch Series 5 – Best Smartwatch for iPhone Owners
Apple smartwatches have continued to dominate the smartwatch market for obvious reasons; superior technology and design. The Apple Watch Series 5 which is the newest one in the rich lineup of Apple smartwatches is no doubt the best smartwatch on the market. Although retaining the design of its predecessor, the Watch 4 that has now been discontinued, it builds on it with newer features and better performance.
Watch 5 is a beautiful smartwatch with a very sturdy build. It’s available in two sizes; 40mm and 44mm, and also there’s the GPS only and the Cellular + GPS model. The material for the Watch 5 ranges from the aluminum (GPS), stainless steel to more premium titanium and ceramic with premium sapphire crystal material covering the display. Straps are available in elastomer or leather as well as other custom materials such as steel.
One of the advantages of the Watch 5 over its closest competitors is the quite larger 1.78/1.57 inch display that’s powered by LTPO OLED and very intriguing to watch. With Watch 5, you can now access your favorite apps directly from the device. You can also add as many as 8 complications to the display that allow you to have easy access to your favorites. Watch 5 is also very slim (10.7mm) and sleek and is also very lightweight 36.1 g (non-LTE) (one of the lightest designs on the market).
Another nice aspect of Watch 5 is the enormous activity tracking features that can help you reach more fitness goals. You can track the basics; steps, distance, sedentary reminder, sleep, and heart rate to more advanced features such the newly added menstrual cycle tracking, activity ring that learns about you and able to tell you when to move or sit, ECG (FDA certified)tracking that can help you detect irregular heart rhythms and incidental fall detection that can help you get the needed help when a fall has occurred. Hearing tracking has also been added as well as international emergency tracking that allows you to call emergency contacts almost anywhere in the world.
The Watch 5 comes with a massive 32GB storage capacity and features both microphone and loudspeaker that allow you to use SIRI voice assistant and make calls directly from the device. Although there is the cellular model that allows you to make calls from the Watch 5 independent of your phone.
The major disappointing aspect of the Watch 5 is the short battery life that will see you go only about 18 hours from a single charge.
Pros
- Premium design.
- A comprehensive fitness tracker.
- A standalone smartwatch.
- Loudspeaker and microphone inbuilt.
- 32GB massive storage capacity.
- Digital crown with hepatic feedback for easier navigation.
- Always on display
- Outstanding performance.
Cons
- Battery life isn’t impressive.
- Compatible with only iOS devices.
Recommendation – Beyond the disappointing short battery life of the Watch 5, it’s the best smartwatch on the market and the best choice for iPhone users.
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2. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 – Best Smartwatch for Android Phones
The Active 2 comes second on this list, it’s the best yet from Samsung and no doubt one of the best choices you can buy that works great with Android phones. The Active 2 comes second on this list for 5 main reasons; outstanding design, great performance, enormous features, great platform with more Apps, and a quite impressive long battery life.
It’s a fine smartwatch, durably built by industry best standards, very slim and lightweight with an innovative digital rotating bezel that makes navigation very easy.
The Active 2 is available in two sizes; 40mm and 44mm and both are available in stainless steel and aluminum materials. The aluminum model lacks cellular capabilities which are present in the stainless steel model.
Being a comprehensive smartwatch, Active 2 is loaded with lots of features that comprise both media and fitness tracking features. It comes with 4GB onboard storage and is also equipped with both microphone and loudspeaker which allows you to make calls directly from this device via Bluetooth calling. You can respond to messages, as well as the ability to use the Bixby voice assistant which now supports 5 languages; English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
In the activity tracking department, the Active 2 is able to auto-track 7 sport modes with swimming newly added, and also features lots of preloaded sport modes. It’s able to tracks your sleep in four stages, as well as tracks your heart rate continuously, while also being able to alert you of abnormal heart rate.
The Active 2 also has a quite impressive 2-4 days long battery life which is great. Although not so impressive, but it’s quite longer than the Apple Watch 5 above. You can compliment this by charging the device at least once every day.
Pros
- Premium and classy design.
- A comprehensive fitness tracker.
- A standalone smartwatch.
- Loudspeaker and microphone inbuilt.
- Rotating bezel for easier navigation.
- NFC payment supported via Samsung Pay.
Cons
- Battery life isn’t so impressive.
Recommendation – The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is a high-end smartwatch, durably built and loaded with lots of features. It’s undoubtedly the best smartwatch for Android phone users, and at about $280, it’s a great bargain.
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3. Garmin Fenix 6x Pro – Best GPS Multisport Fitness Smartwatch
Garmin with its latest set of premium smartwatches have given smartwatch lovers especially fitness enthusiasts more reasons to buy a Garmin smartwatch. The Fenix 6x Pro is undoubtedly the best fitness smartwatch on the market. It’s truly a comprehensive activity tracker taking consideration the enormous fitness tracking features in one watch. The Fenix 6X Pro is accompanied by the Fenix 6 Pro and 6S Pro which are smaller in size.
Although quite more expensive, the Fenix 6X Pro is sturdily built with some of the most durable materials, and beyond the fitness tracking features, it’s also loaded with lots of media features and other features that can increase your productivity significantly, as well as a monster long battery life that’ll keep you going for about 2 weeks.
The 1.4 inch wide display is very bright and easy to read outdoors, and while it’s quite thick at 14.9mm, it’s slimmer than the Fenix 5X Plus, it’s predecessor. Fiber-reinforced polymer with metal rear cover material is used for the case, while the bezel comes in stainless steel or DLC which will cost you more. The screen is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass or the more expensive Sapphire glass material.
The Fenix 6X Pro comes with a massive 32GB onboard storage capacity which is twice what you get from its predecessor. Music streaming is also available, and you can send quick replies for text messages.
Garmin Pay is available to allow you to make a payment on the go directly from the watch.
The Fenix 6x Pro features lots of fitness tracking features which include pulse Ox. that monitors your blood oxygen level, incidental fall detection, onboard animated workout modes that can save you money on subscriptions, trendline popularity routing that allows you access millions of routes to help you find the best possible route to follow, as well as full-color maps.
Moreover, hydration tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, under-water heart rate tracking are all present on the Fenix 6x Pro.
The Fenix 6x Pro has been tested to last up to 21 days with smartwatch mode, 15 hours with GPS and Music and 46 days on expedition mode (strictly GPS tracking). This is very impressive.
Pros
- Premium and rugged design.
- Sturdily built.
- Manageable and very impressive long battery life.
- 32GB storage.
- A comprehensive activity tracker.
- Swim-proof.
Cons
- Quite expensive.
- Lacks microphone and loudspeaker.
Recommendation – Beside the somewhat high price, the Fenix 6X Pro is a premium smartwatch that’s worth all the penny. It’s undoubtedly the best GPS fitness smartwatch on the market. It’s sturdy, loaded with lots of activity tracking features and also has one of the longest battery life. The Fenix 6xPro is quite bulky, you can go for the smaller 6S Pro or medium 6 Pro.
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4. Huawei Watch GT 2 – A Classic Fitness Smartwatch
Another outstanding smartwatch you can buy right now that certainly gives great value for money is the Huawei Watch GT 2. It’s one of the latest smartwatches from Huawei, released alongside the 42mm version which is a lower-end device lacking microphone and loudspeaker both of which are present on the 46mm model of the GT 2.
The GT 2 has one of the most sophisticated designs and one of the most fascinating appearances of all the smartwatches released in 2019. It’s a true premium smartwatch, but the crux of the matter is the new Kirin AI chip used for Huawei Phones was introduced to the GT2. This improves performance significantly as well as elongates its battery life significantly leaving it with over two weeks of battery life which is one of the longest on this list.
At 10.7mm, the GT 2 is very slim, and also very lightweight at 41g (excluding straps), you’ll barely remember it’s on your wrist. The 1.39inch AMOLED display is awesome and supports touchscreen. The body is built with stainless steel, while the finely crafted bezel is made of ceramics. The 22mm (46mm) and 20mm (42mm) straps are available in fluoroelastomer, leather or more premium titanium material.
Just like other watches on this list, the GT 2 is fully equipped to track your active life comprehensively. under-water heart rate tracking has been added, as well as stress tracking, triathlon mode supported, onboard coach that guide you through select activities and the Huawei TruSeen 3.5 and TruSleep are also available to track your heart rate continuously as well as monitoring your complete sleep stages.
Microphone and loudspeaker are present on the GT 2 (46mm) that enables Bluetooth calling from this device, and comes with 4GB onboard storage that allow you take your music with you. NFC is also present, but only in China for now, while the GT 2 is also able to keep you updated with all that matters to you.
Pros
- Fascinating design.
- A comprehensive fitness tracker.
- Outstanding performance.
- Bluetooth calling (46mm).
- Loudspeaker and microphone inbuilt (46mm).
- Onboard music storage.
- Long battery life.
Cons
- Lacks Wi-Fi.
- Limited Apps.
Recommendation – When it comes to design and performance, the GT 2 is one of the best on the market right now, and there’s no doubt about that. Moreover, its fully equipped to track your active life and houses other interesting features that can improve your productive life significantly.
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5. Fossil Gen 5 – The Best Wear OS Smartwatch
The Fossil Gen 5 goes a long way to fulfill features Wear OS smartwatch lovers have long waited for, a Snapdragon 3100 chip with 1GB RAM onboard. Although, still falls short as the platform is still crappy when compared to other proprietary platforms like the Tizen and Watch OS from Samsung and Apple respectively, but it’s a significant improvement from the Gen 4 Sport released last year which also houses the 3100 chip.
Gen 5 comes in three models, Juliana for women and Calyle/Gareth both for men. These three have the same specs and features. The Gen 5 comes with 1.28 inch AMOLED display that’s fascinating to watch, it’s also quite slim at 12mm and has a body made of stainless steel just like the older fossil smartwatches.
Microphone and loudspeaker are present which allows you to access voice commands via Google Assistant, as well as adds more productivity to this as you can now hear reply aloud to your commands and Bluetooth calling. Moreover, 8GB storage which is twice that of its predecessor is also present which allows you to take your favorite tracks with you, while NFC is also present and supports Google Pay which allows you to make a payment on the go via this device.
The Gen 5 is also fitness-focused, and will track your steps, sleep, heart rate and calories. It has inbuilt GPS that supports outdoor activity tracking, plus access to other nice third-party apps from the App store.
Although the Gen 5 comes with the 3100 chip under the hood, its battery life is still not impressive as you can only get about a day or more battery life from a single charge thanks to the 3100 chip which also introduces battery manage features that’ll see this watch last a little longer.
Pros
- Premium design.
- Powered by Snapdragon 3100 chip.
- Manageable battery life.
- Higher 1GB RAM and 8GB storage.
- Loudspeaker and microphone inbuilt.
Cons
- Quite heavy.
- Battery life isn’t so impressive.
- Slight lagging performance.
Recommendation – If you’re a fan of Wear OS smartwatches, then the Fossil Gen 5 is your best bet for now, otherwise go for the Ticwatch Pro 4G is a fine alternative.
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6. Ticwatch Pro 4G – Another Outstanding Wear OS Smartwatch
The Ticwatch Pro 4G from Mobvoi is another fine Wear OS you should consider if you’re looking for a smartwatch that does it all, yet great performance and outstanding design. The Pro 4G is the successor to the award winning Ticwatch Pro, it builds on its predecessor with cellular connectivity added, now suitable for swimming and even lighter at 47.4g and slimmer at 12.6mm.
One remarkable feature of the Pro 4G is the AMOLED/FSTN dual display mode that allows you to switch between the two display modes. While the AMOLED is beautiful to watch but reduces the battery life to about 1-2 days, the FSTN display will see the Pro 4G last about 30 days but will disable Wear OS features.
The Pro 4G being a standalone smartwatch comes with preloaded e-SIM that supports cellular connectivity on this watch and is powered by Verizon (it’s quite limited). It also has a microphone and loudspeaker to complement its cellular features. Moreover, the RAM size has been boosted to 1GB which improves performance significantly despite housing the older 2100 chip, while you get about 2.4GB onboard storage that allows you to take your favorite tracks with you.
The Pro 4G is also equipped to track your active life comprehensively with a handful of sensors built-in including GPS that enables outdoor activity tracking.
Pros
- Durable and rugged design (MLT-STD-810G).
- Quite lightweight.
- Standalone smartwatch.
- Dual display.
- Microphone and loudspeaker.
Cons
- Verizon limits standalone features to areas it covers.
- Slight lagging performance.
Recommendation – The Ticwatch Pro 4G is a sturdily built device, and loaded with lots of features. Moreover, its standalone features makes it a more comprehensive smartwatch. At $300, it’s no doubt a fine bargain, and certainly one of the best Wear OS smartwatches on the market right now.
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7. Samsung Galaxy Watch – One of the Best Smartwatches for Android
Although released in 2018, the Galaxy Watch still holds its own as one of the best smartwatches on the market, even better now that Samsung has added some of the latest features introduces to the newest Active 2 to the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active. Some of these new features include the ability to change watch face to match the color of what you’re wearing, ability to start exercise simply with your voice, a clearer graphics UX and many more features.
The Galaxy Watch tested and confirmed by many happy owners is undoubtedly one of the best smartwatches you can buy right now. It’s pure quality, sophisticated design and loaded with lots of features.
The Galaxy Watch comes in two sizes; smaller 42mm and 46mm models, while super AMOLED powers the 1.2 inch and 1.3 inch respectively. It’s quite slim at 12.6mm and the stainless steel case material is durable even as it has been certified MIL-STD-810G just like other Samsung watches on this list. Straps are available in silicone or leather, and compatible with 20mm and 22mm for the 42mm and 46mm respectively. Moreover, the innovative rotating bezel makes navigation very easy in addition to touchscreen support and 2 physical buttons.
There’re lots of fitness tracking features inbuilt into the Galaxy Watch, its features 39 sport modes and is capable of auto-tracking 6 of those. It tracks your complete sleep stages, continuous heart rate tracking can help you manage stress, plus many other interesting activity tracking features including inbuilt GPS.
The Galaxy Watch has about 2.5GB available space for onboard music storage, it also comes with microphone and loudspeaker, as well as NFC which enables Samsung Pay. There’s a standalone version of the Galaxy Watch which comes with e-SIM that supports cellular connectivity and allows you to make and receive calls directly from this device independent of your phone.
The battery life of the Galaxy Watch is somewhat impressive as you’ll get about 2 days or more from a single charge with mixed usage.
Pros
- Premium classic design; classy and stylish.
- A perfect fitness tracker for the workout freaks.
- It’s a standalone smartwatch.
- Accessibility is easy with rotating bezel, touchscreen and two buttons.
- Microphone/Loudspeaker: Bluetooth calling.
Cons
- Its quite heavy, weighs 63 grams without straps.
Recommendation – Since its release, the Galaxy Watch has proven to be one of the best smartwatches on the market. Its design is outstanding, performance is fast, and activity tracking is reliable. It’s a great alternative to Active 2.
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8. Fitbit Versa 2 – One of the best smartwatches, yet cheap
The Fitbit Versa 2 succeeded the Versa which was quite very popular among smartwatch lovers, and it does come with some interesting features that make it a contender for the best smartwatches. The Versa 2 with wider 1.4 inch AMOLED display, an inbuilt microphone that supports Amazon Alexa and onboard music storage is one of the cheapest smartwatches on this list, yet great quality you can buy right now. It’s one of the most popular smartwatch ion the market.
The Versa 2 is a decent smartwatch with an aluminum case that makes it very lightweight and comfortable to wear all day long. It’s also slim, and the silicone straps which are interchangeable also add to bring great comfort with this piece on your wrist.
In the fitness tracking department, Fitbit added blood oxygen tracking, menstrual cycle tracking, floor climbed, steps, complete sleep tracking, and continuous heart rate tracking that can help you manage your training intensity effortlessly. However, Versa 2 just like its predecessor lacks inbuilt GPS, but will still work with connected GPS on your phone.
Like mentioned earlier, onboard music storage and voice command features via Amazon Alexa are some of the new features introduced to Versa 2 which can, of course, increase your productivity significantly.
With the Versa 2, you can go about 4-6 days from a single charge on regular usage which is quite impressive.
Pros
- Lightweight design.
- Long battery life.
- A comprehensive fitness tracker.
- Microphone inbuilt for Amazon Alexa.
- Onboard music storage.
Cons
- Lacks inbuilt GPS.
- Limited apps.
Recommendation – The Fitbit Versa 2 is a decent smartwatch with some very nice features such as onboard music storage and streaming, voice assistant and NFC , while also being a comprehensive fitness tracker with great accuracy, yet cheap. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a smartwatch within budget.
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9. Garmin Vivoactive 4 – One of The Best Fitness Smartwatches for Women
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 is another outstanding smartwatch – one of the best choices for women, it’s one of the best smartwatches released in 2019, and succeeds the Vivoactive 3. The Vivoactive 4 is a stylish smartwatch with lots of features especially fitness oriented that makes it a comprehensive fitness tracker.
There’re two models of the Vivoactive 4; a smaller Vivoactive 4S and bigger Vivoactive 4, plus the Garmin Venu which has the same features as the Vivoactive 4, but has a richer AMOLED display.
The Vivoactive 4 has a fiber-reinforced polymer case material and a well crafted stainless steel bezel that leaves this timepiece with a fascinating appearance. Moreover, at 12.8mm, it’s slimmer than its predecessor, and its 1.3 inch MIP LCD display is brighter and easy to read outdoors. It has touchscreen support and has two physical buttons by the sides to aid navigation, while Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the screen.
The Vivoactive 4 comes with about 4GB onboard music storage capacity, and as well supports music streaming. NFC which supports Garmin Pay is also onboard.
With menstrual cycle tracking, blood oxygen, onscreen animated workout, hydration tracking, respiration tracking, incidental fall detection, and under-water heart rate tracking added to the Vivoactive 4 series, plus lots of other fitness tracking features, it’s a comprehensive fitness tracker that can actually help you achieve more fitness goals.
The Vivoactive 4 will last about a week on regular usage which is quite impressive, and with continuous GPS tracking, it’s about a day.
Pros
- Stylish, classy and sturdy design.
- A comprehensive fitness tracker.
- Lightweight design.
- Long battery life.
- Onscreen animated workout coach.
- Onboard music storage and streaming.
- Garmin Pay.
Cons
- Lacks microphone and loudspeaker.
Recommendation – The Vivoactive 4 with tones of fitness tracking features is a comprehensive fitness tracker, but beyond this, it also has an outstanding design that’s stylish and classy while having an impressively long battery life. You can choose between the smaller Vivoactive 4S and bigger model depending on your wrist size. This is one of the best smartwatches for women.
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10. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active – Another outstanding smartwatch from samsung
With the Galaxy Active making this list, makes it three smartwatches from one brand on this list, it no mistake, these are my perception form my personal and users experience. Samsung has actually done well to improve its Tizen platform by adding more apps and features. When the Galaxy Active was released earlier in 2019, most of us were disappointed with some features missing like standalone capabilities and rotating bezel, but with the latest update, the Galaxy Active is now a fine alternative to the Active 2 as it now features rotating bezel as well as other new UX features introduced to the Active 2.
The Galaxy Active has a quite small 1.1 inch AMOLED display, very compact at 39.5mm and slim at 10.5mm. It has touchscreen support and with digital rotating bezel added, navigation is a lot easier.
There’re lots of fitness tracking features inbuilt into the Galaxy Active, it features 39 sport modes, and auto tracks 6 of those. With a heart rate sensor, it tracks your heart rate and calories, and with inbuilt GPS, you can track your outdoor activities. The Galaxy Active will also track your steps, distance, complete sleep cycle and can help you manage stress.
There’s NFC onboard which supports Samsung Pay, as well about 2.5GB for music storage with microphone and loudspeaker also available.
The battery life of the Galaxy Active is quite impressive, it has about same battery life of 2 days or more just like the Active 2.
Pros
- Stylish, slim and elegant design.
- Built to last with durable and light materials.
- Enormous fitness tracking features.
- It is swim-proof.
- NFC is available.
- Loudspeaker and microphone available.
- Digital rotating bezel.
Cons
- Not a standalone smartwatch.
Recommendation – The Galaxy Active is a nice and cheaper alternative to the newer Active 2 if you’re low on budget. It a fine smartwatch, compact and slim, loaded with lots of features and a comprehensive fitness tracker while also having a quite impressive long battery life.
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Conclusion
I can go on and on listing the best smartwatches most of which were released in 2019 with significant improvements from their respective predecessors, but this list is limited to 10. No doubt, the smartwatches listed above are some of the very best you can buy on the market, at least till later in the summer and fall when newer smartwatches are expected.
