Summary
- Fossil confirms it is exiting the smartwatch business, focusing on traditional products like watches and jewelry.
- Lack of product launches and competition from Samsung and Google likely contributed to Fossil’s decision.
- Existing Fossil smartwatches will still receive updates for the next few years, but there is uncertainty about the release timeframe for the new Wear OS 4 update.
In the Wear OS 2 era, Fossil offered several Android smartwatches under its various sub-brands. But since the launch of Wear OS 3, the company has been relatively quiet. Its last major smartwatch launch was the Fossil Gen 6, which launched with Wear OS 2 in September 2021 and got the Wear OS 3.5 update two years later, in November 2023. Despite the growing popularity of Wear OS watches, the lack of any new offering from Fossil led to rumors that it could give up on wearables for good. Fossil has now confirmed the rumors and says it will no longer make any new smartwatches.
In a statement to The Verge, a spokesperson for the Fossil group confirmed the company’s “strategic decision to exit the smartwatch business.” Instead, it will redirect the resources to “support our core strength and the core segments of our business that continue to provide strong growth opportunities for us.” This includes making traditional watches, jewelry, and leather goods.
In late December, a report highlighted Fossil’s impending exit from the smartwatch market. Multiple Reddit users claimed to have spoken to Fossil retail employees, who confirmed that Fossil’s Gen 7 lineup of smartwatches won’t launch and that the company will exit the market. Around the same time, Fossil held a fire sale event, dropping the price of the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition by over 50% to $129, which further added fuel to the fire.
Fossil’s exit from the wearable market should not be surprising. With no significant product launches since 2021, the company was far behind the offerings in our list of the best Android smartwatches. And there were no rumors of any new Fossil-branded smartwatch launching anytime soon in the rumor mill as well.
Google’s closeness with Samsung for the Wear OS platform and launching its own smartwatches might have also played a key role in Fossil’s decision to quit the segment.
Thankfully, it is not the end of the road for existing Fossil watches. The company’s spokesperson said Fossil will continue updating its existing Wear OS watches “for the next few years.” While this sounds promising, it does not clarify if Fossil Gen 6 watches will get the Wear OS 4 update. And if the update is planned, there’s no clarity about its release timeframe. Going by Fossil’s past track record, there could be a long wait, as the company took over a year to bring Wear OS 3.5 to its Gen 6 watches.
Fossil’s exit from the Wear OS market leaves Samsung and Google as the two most prominent players. There’s also TicWatch, but it is no longer a significant player. Thankfully, new players like Xiaomi and OnePlus are entering the segment, which bodes well for the platform’s future.
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