Fitbit’s First Smartwatch Said To Be Facing Production Facing Setbacks

After falling short of their last earnings call, wearables giant FitBit said it’d be looking to make forays into the smartwatch market to fuel new growth. However, reports say the company’s efforts at expanding its brand footprint aren’t going to plan.

Yahoo Finance reports that production issues have beset both Fitbit’s upcoming smartwatch and their previously-unannounced Bluetooth earbuds.

Sources told Yahoo that Fitbit ran into trouble when it came to waterproofing their new smartwatch, which will reportedly feature a 1000-nit display, NFC-chip and aluminum uni-body design.

In addition, “the GPS wasn’t working because the antennae wasn’t in the right place,” sources said.

“They had to go back to the drawing board to redesign the product so the GPS got a strong signal.”

As a result, they say that the production issues have forced Fitbit to push the launch of the device back several months to the latter half of the year.

Sources also revealed that Fitbit plans to releasing a pair of Bluetooth headphones alongside the smartwatch. They say the earbuds will be similar in design to Apple’s Beats X and will be available in two colors.

During the company’s last earnings report, Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said that “Fitbit is in a unique position to stimulate new areas of demand by leveraging the data we collect to deliver a more personalized experience while developing upgraded versions of existing products and launching additional products to expand into new categories.”