The Garmin Forerunner 955's rumored release date of June 1 is fast approaching, and now a retailer appears to have let slip details of the new watch's specifications, including one particularly big upgrade from 2019's Forerunner 945.
As reported by Gadgets & Wearables, which spotted the leak, the new watch will apparently have a new touchscreen display to complement the five-button setup used by the rest of Garmin's best GPS watches. This would make it the first Forerunner with touchscreen controls since the Forerunner 610, which was released 11 years ago.
It's a logical move for Garmin, which added a touchscreen to its Fenix line earlier this year with the launch of the Fenix 7. Now the company has the components and supply chain at its disposal, it makes sense that it would introduce the tech to other devices. While buttons are the most practical choice for activities where your hands are going to be wet, dirty, or wearing gloves, a touchscreen makes it much easier to pan across maps when navigating.
That could be a real boon, particularly if the new watch comes with the Map Manager tool introduced with the Fenix 7 and Epix, which allows you to download new maps directly through the watch rather than using Garmin's mobile app. The Forerunner 955 apparently has double the storage space of its predecessor, giving you plenty of room for topographical, street, marine, and other maps.
If you're a long-time Forerunner user and want to stick with what you know, there's no need to worry. Assuming the Forerunner 955's display works the same way as the Fenix 7's, touch controls will be disabled by default during activities to stop you accidentally pausing or ending workout tracking, and you can deactivate them entirely through the watch's system menu if you prefer.
What else is new?
We can't say for certain whether the Forerunner 955 will come in different sizes like the Instinct 2 and Fenix 7, which both have smaller editions for those with more petite wrists, but it's possible. The freshly leaked watch has a case measuring 45.7mm in diameter, which is slightly smaller than the 945, but still fairly hefty.
The new watch appears to be available in both standard and solar editions, which tallies with recently published listings on US and Singaporean government websites. However, once again, there's no mention of an LTE edition watch just yet – something that briefly appeared on Garmin's own Australian website earlier this year. This edition may still be in the pipeline, but it's looking increasingly unlikely that it'll be available to purchase when the 955 launches.
According to the leak, the standard edition watch is listed at $499, which would be interesting if true. The Forerunner 945 launched at $599.99 / £519.99, so this would be a hefty price drop that might persuade more owners of the older watch to make the jump.
We're continuing to keep our ears to the ground, and will bring you more details about the Forerunner 955 as soon as they emerge.
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