Amazfit has supercharged its sports watch lineup with the Active Max, a new smartwatch that promises nearly a month of battery life and sports watch-level fitness chops. Launched ahead of CES 2026 as part of the Consumer Electronics Show announcements, the Active Max builds on Amazfit’s existing Active line with a bigger, brighter display and bigger battery along with training and recovery tools usually reserved for more expensive watches.

At $169, it’s at least $100 cheaper than comparable sports watches from Apple, Google, Samsung and Garminhowever it does not match the value theft level of $80 Amazfit Bip 6our favorite budget smartwatch in 2025.

Amazfit has built a reputation for making competitive smartwatches that have many of the same core health and fitness features as the flagship brands but at a fraction of the price. Since Amazfit runs its own Zepp OS, pairing isn’t as seamless as watches tied to their phones’ operating systems, but the payoff is cross-platform compatibility with Android and iPhone.

Bright screen and big battery

The Active Max has a 1.5-inch AMOLED display with up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. It is framed in an aluminum-and-plastic case, weighs 35.3 grams, and is water-resistant up to 5 ATM.

But its unique feature is the 658 mAh battery, which Amazfit says can last up to 25 days on a single charge, or up to 10 days with the display always on. If those estimates hold up to real-world testing, the Active Max will outperform most mainstream smartwatches, competing at the dedicated sports watch level (some of which don’t even have a touchscreen).

Health and wellness features

Another big focus is fitness. Active Max has more than 160 different exercise options to choose from, including automatic strength training detection that helps you count reps, and even has its own. AI-powered coach in the Zepp app.

It also debuted a new metric called BioCharge, which tracks energy levels based on output and recovery. It continuously updates based on activity, exercise and stress levels throughout the day to help you optimize training time, similar to It’s Fitbit The readiness score and Garmin’s Body Battery.

The watch includes continuous background health tracking, measuring heart rate, sleep quality, blood oxygen levels and stress, with alerts for abnormally high or low readings. The watch supports Bluetooth calling, onboard music storage, offline maps and route navigation, including maps for more than 2,000 ski resorts.

How does it stack up?

At $169, the Active Max isn’t exactly budget smartwatch territory, but it’s a solid value in the sports watch category. It’s a worthy choice for anyone who prioritizes battery life and cross-platform compatibility without having to spend flagship-level money.

As with most announcements during CES, testing in the real world will ultimately determine how well it delivers on its promises, but on paper the Active Max continues to push Amazfit to offer content with lower prices than its big-name rivals. Amazfit says the Active Max will be available starting December 30.

For more announcements ahead of CES 2026, check out CNET’s full CES coverage.

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