Fossil has teased its next generation of smartwatches, just hours ahead of the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.
Fossil smartwatches have been a long-standing partner of Google Wear OS, and the company has sent out emails to its user base teasing its new range before Samsung launches its first Wear OS smartwatch since 2014 on 11 August.
The teaser mentions Gen 6 by name, and simply states “Way more, way faster.”
It adds: “Fossil’s newest, most advanced smartwatch is coming soon.” You can see a copy of the email below:
It’s not the first we’ve heard of the Fossil Gen 6. In a Google blog post, which finally offered clarity on which existing smartwatches will get updated to Wear 3, the company confirmed that Fossil’s next smartwatches would support the updated OS when they landed later in 2021.
However, it’s not clear whether Gen 6 will run Wear 3 from launch, or will be updated in 2022.
That’s about all we know so far. Of course, Fossil is pitching ‘speed’ as a major improvement of its new devices – and this implies it will run on Wear 4100. This isn’t exactly a major shock, given that Gen 5 ran Wear 3100 and Gen 4 was built on 2100.
However, rumors have suggested that a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 5100 is in the works – but new silicon is usually announced long before smartwatches launch with it.
The new version of Wear OS will be a boon for Fossil, bringing new features, (supposed) better usability, (allegedly) longer battery life and Fitbit-based activity tracking. That will help people feel they can jump on board with a Fossil smartwatch, which have been well designed and priced, but held back by an OS that’s been hard to recommend.
Google is hoping Wear 3, which will debut on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, will be a catalyst for change. With Samsung on board, it’s looking to woo developers to create an app ecosystem to rival the Apple App Store.
And with Fitbit handling the fitness tracking side, it’s certainly got the potential to capture the imagination of smartwatch shoppers.
Fossil has always played to the non-tech, lifestyle crowd – perhaps with Gen 6 it will have the tools to impress.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.