CNET recently conducted an interview with Fossil executives Greg McKelvey and Steve Prokup in which they said that the existing Fossil smartwatches that run WearOS will not receive an update to the new WearOS which is a combined platform from Samsung and Google.
At Google I/O 2021, Google announced that their current smartwatch software, WearOS, will be getting a visual overhaul and that the new version will be in partnership with Samsung. This got many excited for the future of WearOS as this partnership might make it a better overall experience to use. However, with this announcement, there was no word on which manufacturers would be updating their current smartwatches to this new software or when it would be released.
Fossil are the first manufacturer that have give us an idea on what happens to the future of their smartwatch line with this new software. The company said that they are planning a new premium watch with “major hardware upgrades” and all existing watches will be deemed budget options.
CNET reports that Fossil’s Gen 6 watch will have features that are similar to the likes of upcoming smartwatches from Google and Samsung which include faster performance, better battery life, new chips and better LTE capabilities. In the interview with CNET, McKelvey said that everything that Google aims to bring to the table with the new update is something that Fossil will be building into their Gen 6 watch as well.
The interview did not tell us much else about the design of the new watch or even the specs but they did indicate that the new line of watches will offer a better variety across the board. While the old watch from Fossil may not be getting an update to this new software, it is exciting to see what happens to the future of Android smartwatches and if they will actually become a competitor to the Apple Watch with this new update.
