When it comes to Android Wear OS based smartwatches, Fossil is quite a well known brand. The company is reportedly working on a new premium smartwatch that will be based on a new unified software experience, feature faster chips and improved battery life.
During I/O 2021, Google announced a new partnership with Samsung, where the two companies will work together to rebuild Google Watch OS, unifying with Samsung’s Tizen ecosystem, and provide a better smartwatch experience for users.
In an interview, Fossil’s Chief Commercial Officer Greg McKelvey and Steve Prokup, senior vice president of connected devices, revealed that Fossil’s upcoming premium smartwatch will be in-line with Google’s unified smartwatch experience. Tentatively called the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatch, the company hinted at major upgrades to their smartwatch lineup, including faster performance, longer batter life and improved health-tracking capabilities.
With regards to the Fossil Gen 6’s design, Steve Prokup said:
We’ve had, and still have, multiple configurations of buttons in the market at the same time, and that’s able to be supported. I think you’re still going to see a variety of offerings across even our products, as well as manufacturers … not so much that you’re going to have a watch that ends up having four, five, six dedicated buttons or no buttons.
Fossil also confirmed that older generation Fossil Wear OS smartwatches will not be compatible with the new unified Wear OS platform. Fossil, along with Google and Samsung, have mentioned that these upcoming smartwatches will be “Premium”, which suggests that these devices will be on the higher price segment, similar to where the Apple Watch Series 6 is currently.