The Garmin Venu 4 will most likely arrive very soon. It's been nearly two years since the Venu 3 launched in late August 2023, and it's still arguably Garmin's best all-around smartwatch that athletes can reasonably afford. Given that, the Garmin Venu 4 has high standards to meet and the potential to excite or disappoint fans in equal measure.
Garmin itself leaked the Venu 4 name in a description of the Japanese Garmin golf app, saying it would get premium golf features that the expensive Garmin Venu X1 received earlier this year.
Otherwise, we don't officially know anything about this watch. But we can look at Venu X1 upgrades over the Venu 3 — plus the pricier Fenix 8 and Venu-lite Vivoactive 6 — and get a pretty good idea of what tricks the Venu 4 will receive to refresh the Venu 3 template.
Here's everything we expect from the Venu 4, along with everything we truly hope Garmin will add, even if the odds are slim.
The most likely Garmin Venu 4 features
The Garmin Venu 4 should emulate the Venu 3 with two AMOLED touch display sizes (1.2 and 1.4 inches), a mic & speaker, all-systems GNSS tracking (but no dual-band GPS), an altimeter for elevation data, a gyroscope for accurate workout tracking, music storage, Garmin Pay, and at least the 5th-generation Elevate sensor with ECG and skin temp readings.
It should bring back the core Garmin health and training tools like Body Battery, Sleep Coach, intensity minutes, workout benefit, recovery time, animated indoor workouts, running dynamics, running power, and more recent add-ons like Garmin Strength Coach.
Since the Venu 3 came out, Garmin has continued to update its core UI, and the Venu 4 will have a smarter, more logical navigation layout than the last model. Beyond that, the Venu 4 is due to receive a ton of new features.
The 2025 Vivoactive 6 is designed as a cheaper Venu alternative, but since it came out later, it introduced features the Venu 4 is nearly 100% certain to get: move alerts, daily walking suggestions, Garmin Run Coach, prebuilt cycling plans, PacePro, training effect, and the smart alarm that waits to wake you until you're in a light sleep stage.
Plus, the Vivoactive 6 display — like the Venu X1 and Forerunner 970 displays — is twice as bright as most AMOLED Garmin watches; expect the Venu 4 to hit 2,000 nits, as well.
The Garmin Venu 3 was one of the first Garmin watches to add a mic & speaker, but it only works for Bluetooth calling and pass-through commands to your phone. Since then, several watches like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 570 have added on-watch commands like "Start a run activity" or "Show my sleep summary." It's a guarantee the Venu 4 gets these commands.
Everything we hope the Garmin Venu 4 will add
Frankly, if the Garmin Venu 4 adds all of the above features, that'll be enough to satisfy plenty of people. And the more features Garmin adds, the more justification it will have to raise the Venu 4 price, just as the Instinct 3 and Forerunner 570 jumped $50 and $100 in price, respectively.
But if Garmin is determined to charge more, we may as well get even more new features out of the Venu 4! Here's what we want to see, from reasonable possibilities to unlikely hopes.
A flashlight
In the last year, the Fenix 8, Enduro 3, Forerunner 970, Venu X1, and Instinct 3 have all added built-in LED flashlights, though not the Vivoactive 6. The fact that the $550 Forerunner 570 didn't get the flashlight could mean that Garmin reserves this for the top-tier models (and Instinct series built for outdoor use), but it could be a way for Garmin to differentiate this mainline model from other smartwatches, with a feature that's quite popular among Garmin users.
More Forerunner training tools
Garmin avoids adding overly complicated Forerunner training tools to the Venu series, where they might overwhelm new users. But the Garmin Venu X1 received nearly all the same training features as the Forerunner 970, as Garmin couldn't reasonably charge $800 without including them.
The pricier the Venu 4 gets, the harder it'll be to justify excluding certain tools like training load and training readiness. Most runners and hikers will go for Forerunners and Instincts, but those who will trade extra buttons for a more stylish design still deserve this data, and indoor athletes will benefit from training load data, too.
Breadcrumb navigation
The Garmin Venu 4 will never get offline maps when the Instinct 3 and Forerunner 570 didn't; it's a frustrating fact that Garmin reserves maps for premium models, even though other brands offer maps on cheap watches.
What's more surprising is that the Venu 3 doesn't even have point-to-point navigation, so you can't follow a course and see how far you are from your destination. Even if most Venu fans will never use GPX courses, and it's not a priority for an indoor-focused watch, some users will definitely benefit from this.
Elevate v6 with new health data
The Garmin Venu 2 was the first model with the Elevate v4 sensor, the Venu 2 Plus introduced ECG readings, and the Venu 3 was one of the first — after the Fenix 7 Pro — to use the current Elevate v5 sensor with skin temperature. I don't know if Garmin has a new sensor suite ready, but the Venu 4 is a candidate to introduce the 6th-generation version.
The most obvious upgrade would be additional LEDs for better HR accuracy, but I'm also hoping for new health data. Garmin has patented a method to track glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) for a "long-term indication of the average blood glucose level." More recently, its "pulse spectroscopy" patent discussed ways to track your body's hydration and hemocrit levels. There's no guarantee Garmin will use these patents, but it's an example of how Garmin is looking to expand its health offerings.
Daily indoor workout recommendations
The Garmin Venu 4 will get the new Garmin Strength Coach for a guided, weeks-long training plan, as well as premade strength, HIIT, cardio, yoga, and pilates workouts. But not everyone likes to follow a rigid, long-term plan; I personally prefer Garmin's daily run suggestions to its structured Run Coach. With daily cycling and walking suggestions available, too, I think daily indoor workout suggestions are the natural next step!
I'm not sure of the logistics of how they pull this off, as there are so many different types of indoor workouts based on your equipment and abilities. Maybe it'd end up being some kind of Garmin Connect Plus feature. Either way, it'd help the Venu 4 compete against the Apple Watch with its curated list of Fitness+ video workouts.
Cellular data
I've been waiting for Garmin to get back into selling LTE watches since the Forerunner 945 LTE, which solely used it for safety check-ins. The Garmin Venu 4, like the kid-focused Garmin Bounce, could go beyond that and offer 4G LTE calling or voice message check-ins to Garmin LiveTrack.
To be clear, I'd want this to be an optional add-on, just as you can pay extra for LTE-capable Apple and Galaxy Watches. The point is that this would be extremely appealing for those who want a phone backup or phone-free workout experience, whether outdoors or at the gym. The current rumor is that Garmin will sell a Fenix 8 Pro with LTE, so that's a more likely candidate, but who knows!
An even skinnier design
The Garmin Venu 3 is one of the most stylish Garmin watches out there, with a cool steel bezel and svelte case. The Venu X1 isn't nearly as stylish, but I'll admit that its 40g, 7.9mm case is very comfortable to wear, both for workouts and at home. I'm hoping that Garmin can make the Venu 4 a little more petite while preserving its two-week battery life. That might be an unfair request, but I'll hope for it regardless.
Next-level
The Garmin Venu X1 features a brand-new ultra-thin design while building on Garmin's excellent Venyu lineup with features like a large OLED display, long battery life, a built-in flashlight, Garmin's excellent fitness tracking features, and much more.
