While Fossil smartwatches are not considered as popular as Samsung’s Galaxy Watch counterparts, the company’s presence is undeniably recognized within the Wear OS sphere. Fossil managed to introduce a few entries over the years, including the Gen 6 powered by Wear OS 3. It appears that this won’t be seeing any successor after it confirmed that it is ending its smartwatch business.
According to a Fossil representative speaking to The Verge, the company has decided to stop making smartwatches, including those hybrid watch models. It was highlighted that the reason behind is being pointed to the “evolving landscape”. Rather, Fossil is said to focus and “redirect its resources” to its traditional smartwatches and other products.
More importantly, Fossil is not entirely abandoning its existing users. It was added that the company plans to keep the smartwatch model supported through software updates and fixes. Meaning, the Fossil Gen 6 should continue to get updates and possibly features while the company keeps the line running.
The support will also cover other Fossil’s smartwatch brands such as the Skagen Gen 6 in addition to Citizen, Diesel, and Michael Kors, and more.
Just last year, Fossil shipped a big Wear OS 3.5 update to its supported Gen 6 smartwatches. The firmware added numerous features, minor UI changes, and helped improve the performance and battery life on these devices. However, the update was also met with numerous bugs and issues.
With Fossil leaving the Android smartwatch segment, this leaves fewer manufacturers that offer Wear OS-powered wearable. Namely, we can account Google with its Pixel Watch and Watch 2 (review), Samsung with its Galaxy Watch, and Mobvoi with the Ticwatch Pro 5 (review), among others.
Have you used or owned a Fossil smartwatch in the past years? What are your thoughts on Fossil’s quitting the smartwatch industry? We’d like to hear your answers.
