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| The Suunto Race 3S is expected to receive significant hardware upgrades, but not a complete redesign. |
Suunto's next running watch has been doing a poor job of staying secret. Just days after a retailer listing appeared to confirm that a titanium version of the Suunto Race 3S is on the way for €499, a fresh set of supposedly official marketing images has surfaced online — and they appear to spell out exactly what buyers can expect from the Finnish brand's next-generation GPS watch.
The images, posted to the r/Suunto subreddit by a user who claims they originate from Suunto's own promotional material, show a watch that looks strikingly familiar. If the renders are genuine, Suunto has opted for evolution rather than revolution this time around, keeping the chassis that made the Race S one of the more underrated running watches of 2024 while overhauling several key components under the hood.
A Familiar Silhouette, Refined Rather Than Redesigned
Anyone who has worn the Suunto Race S will immediately recognise the shape. The round display, the slightly beveled bezel and the control layout — two physical buttons paired with a digital crown on the right-hand side — all carry over unchanged. The dimensions match the outgoing model almost exactly too, with a 45-millimeter case diameter, 11.4 millimeters of thickness and a weight of 53 grams.
That's likely welcome news for runners who found the Race S hit a sweet spot between a bulky adventure watch and a slim everyday wearable. Water resistance stays at 5 ATM, and the watch retains both a GPS module and the on-watch maps app that has become one of Suunto's stronger selling points against rivals like Garmin and Coros.
Where things get considerably more interesting is in the hardware department.
The leak, which you can browse in full over on the original Reddit thread, points to four upgrades that together would represent a meaningful step forward rather than a cosmetic refresh.
Four Upgrades That Actually Matter
The display gets dramatically brighter. The 1.32-inch AMOLED panel keeps its 466 x 466 pixel resolution, but peak brightness reportedly jumps to 2,000 nits — a more than threefold increase over the predecessor's 600 nits. That's the kind of change you notice immediately on a sunny morning run, where the Race S could occasionally struggle. It also puts the Race 3S in far more competitive territory against the best AMOLED sports watches on the market.
Sapphire crystal replaces Gorilla Glass. Screen protection moves up a tier, which should translate to noticeably better scratch resistance. For anyone who has ever clipped a watch face against a rock face or a doorframe during a tempo session, this is a genuinely useful upgrade rather than a spec-sheet bragging point.
Storage doubles to 64 GB. The Race S shipped with 32 GB, a figure that sounds generous until you start loading offline maps and music. Doubling it to 64 GB gives far more headroom for both, which matters if you're the type who runs long trails without a phone.
Battery life climbs from 30 to 45 hours in GPS mode. That's a 50 percent improvement in the metric most runners actually care about. Suunto advertised the Race S at up to five days of typical use, and while the leak doesn't specify what the Race 3S manages in everyday mode, an equivalent or better figure seems reasonable given the GPS gains.
Titanium Version and Pricing
The titanium variant, first spotted through a retailer leak, is listed at €499. That would position the Race 3S Titanium as a premium option above the standard model, though Suunto has yet to confirm pricing for any configuration. Titanium typically shaves a few grams off the case and adds a more premium feel, though the leaked weight of 53 grams suggests the difference may be modest this generation.
October 15 Launch Rumoured
Rumours point to an official launch on October 15, which would put the Race 3S squarely in the autumn buying window — right as marathon season wraps up and runners start thinking about their next training block.
Suunto has not commented publicly on any of the leaked material, and it's worth treating the images with the usual degree of caution. Marketing renders can change, specs can shift and retailer listings occasionally appear prematurely with placeholder information. That said, the consistency between the retailer leak and the Reddit images lends the story more credibility than a single unverified screenshot usually would.
Why This Launch Matters for Suunto
The wearables market has become brutally competitive at the mid-to-premium end. Garmin continues to dominate with its Forerunner and Fenix lines, Coros has built a loyal following among serious runners on value and battery life, and Apple keeps creeping into the fitness space with each Watch iteration.
Suunto's response has been to lean into what it does well: accurate GPS, a clean and genuinely usable interface, excellent maps and a design language that feels more Scandinavian minimalism than gadget-heavy. The Race S was a solid execution of that philosophy. The Race 3S, if these leaks hold up, addresses the two areas where it most needed work — screen visibility and battery endurance — without breaking what already worked.
For runners already invested in the Suunto ecosystem, that's an appealing proposition. For those on the fence between brands, a 2,000-nit sapphire-covered display with 45 hours of GPS battery life at a competitive price is a much stronger argument than the Race S could make a year ago.
All eyes now turn to October 15. If Suunto confirms what the leaks suggest, the Race 3S could be one of the more compelling running watches of the year — and one that finally gives the big names something to worry about.
