What’s Steph Curry wearing? Google is teasing a Whoop rival
Google from downtown! The company is teasing a new screen-free wearable similar to the Whoop strap. And Steph Curry is on board.
Google seems to be plotting another fitness wearable to accompany its Fitbit and Pixel devices, judging by major hints dropped in a video starring NBA icon Steph Curry.
In a sponsored video posted to Instagram, the NBA’s all-time three-point leader is adorning an unidentified, screen-free wearable band. The entire point of the video appears to be teasing this product announcement.
It looks just like the Whoop strap, which has been around for around a decade and helps athletes measure the relationship between strain and recovery, priming them for top performance. Recently the Polar Loop launched as a rival device. Now it seems the Google/Fitbit alliance is next. The text “a new relationship with your health coming soon” appears on screen as Curry dribbles a basketball.
“I won’t spoil it, you kinda have to see it for yourself,” The Golden State Warriors point guard writes in the caption, before adding a tell-tale side-eye emoji. The video tags Google and the Fitbit account also commented with said side-eye emoji.
If Google’s product mirrors Whoop’s functionality, we can expect deep data points on things like stressors, heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels and a whole lot more. Whoop moved to a subscription model a couple of years back and has branded out into blood testing for biomarkers, so it’s not a cheap date anymore. So it’d be nice to see something a little more accessible with a pay up front model similar to Polar’s Loop, which underwhelmed in our review.
Google appeared to admit that the product is in the works, with a representative telling CNET: “Our performance advisor has been working with the team to cook up something special. More to share soon.”
Watch this space.
Chris Smith
