Garmin reports massive growth in fitness smartwatch segment

As a publicly traded company, Garmin is required to periodically submit and publish financial results, so it is hardly surprising that Garmin has presented its figures for the first quarter of 2026. Two preliminary points should be made here. Quarterly results can be influenced through pricing, product and communications policies, even without potentially dubious tricks. Such quarterly shifts are easier to identify once the annual figures are available. In this article, we will also largely refer to year-over-year comparisons, which is customary. However, a company’s success is not necessarily due only to its own actions but may also be the result of changed market conditions.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, Garmin generated revenue of $1.753 billion in the first quarter ended March 28, 2026, up from $1.535 billion. Operating income is listed at $432 million, up from $333 million, while the corresponding margin rose from 21.7% to 24.6%. This operating income should be considered more meaningful than gross profit because operating income also accounts for unavoidable costs not directly attributable to manufacturing, such as sales and administrative expenses.

There are significant differences between the individual strategic business segments. The fitness segment increased revenue by an impressive 42%, while the outdoor segment declined by 5%. One point is very important here: Garmin does not strictly divide its business into categories such as smartwatches and bike computers but by typical use case. The Instinct 3 smartwatch, for example, is counted under the outdoor segment, while Forerunner models are counted under the fitness segment. Aviation and marine also grew, by 18% and 11%, respectively. Auto OEM recorded very slight growth of just 1%.