Ever since 2021’s Forerunner 945 LTE a small but vocal segment of Garmin fans have been asking when the next LTE watch will arrive. The latest leak suggests it will be the Garmin Fenix 8 LTE.
The Garmin Fenix 8 is already out, of course, but Gadgets & Wearables claims to have seen a “screenshot” showing a Fenix 8 watch that appears to have LTE connectivity as an option.
There has been no confirmation of where this image originates from, but it suggests Garmin may not — as it has appeared until now — consider LTE watches a dead end even in the short term.
The Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE does not use a physical SIM, and doesn’t let you switch over an eSIM plan from a phone. Instead Garmin’s mobile data services are more specific and tailored, relying on a subscription from Garmin that costs from $6.99 a month, or $5.99 a month if you commit to a year.
This doesn’t let you make calls or send text messages in a traditional sense. But it does allow for some neat, and potentially life-saving, features.
What Can Garmin LTE Watches Do?
A proposed Garmin Fenix 8 LTE will be able to use LTE LiveTrack, which uses the watch’s signal to let people see your activities in real time. And even communicate with you, through text and audio messages.
It’s phone-like communication, the Garmin way.
More important for some, the LTE signal can also be used for emergencies, to get in touch with your emergency contacts and, in more dire situations, connect to Garmin Response. This will then relay your information on to emergency services if necessary.
It’s the kind of communication flexibility that is easy to take for granted with a phone in your pocket, but now available when the phone is left at home.
A Garmin Fenix 8 LTE also makes sense in 2025, after Garmin has already made the bold move of entering the subscription service game fully with Connect+. This has not received a favorable reception among fans.
However, an LTE version of one of its most popular watches could help bring a greater sense of substance to the subscription concept, and be used as a springboard to more meaningful subscription-gated features.
Garmin Connect+ currently offers rather thin AI generated feedback on your data and progress, a performance dashboard view and Live Activity, which shows real-time stat data on your phone during exercise.
It doesn’t feel an essential sub when, for years, part of the Garmin appeal has been how the platform provides more than most people need without any ongoing payments.
Using LTE features to build up a paywalled future is almost certainly not what long-term fans would ask for. But it is at least a route that will come across less cynical, and more substantive, than what Garmin has shown to date.
