The fact that the US-based Fossil Group, which is by far the world’s most prolific manufacturer of Wear OS-powered smartwatches, hasn’t released a high-end wearable device in two years truly tells you everything you need to know about Google’s fruitless efforts to provide a decent alternative to Apple’s watchOS platform.
While the veteran fashion designer confirmed the impending arrival of a long overdue Gen 6 product roster for the first time two whole months ago, the completely enigmatic family of premium smartwatches is still not ready for primetime.
Fossil isn’t even ready to share any details about the upcoming Apple Watch-rivaling gadgets, but for what it’s worth, a new teaser is here to remind us that the company has… something in the pipeline. That something will apparently be Fossil’s “most advanced smartwatch” yet, delivering “way more, way faster”, which obviously makes sense given that 2019’s Gen 5 lineup packs a 2018-released Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor.
The same goes for the newer but overall lower-end and lower-cost Gen 5E portfolio, so at the very least, the Fossil Gen 6 will employ a Snapdragon Wear 4100 SoC to enable a significant speed upgrade over its forerunners.
Said upgrade could prove to be even more significant if Gen 6-series smartwatches end up using Qualcomm’s as-yet-unannounced Snapdragon Wear 5100 “platform”, but if history is any indication, we wouldn’t dream too big. After all, the 4100 has been around for a year or so, and unlike Mobvoi, Fossil has chosen not to do anything with it… until now.
If you’re inclined to believe the wait was in any way connected to the Wear OS 3 update, that’s probably not the case as Google essentially confirmed not long ago that the Fossil Gen 6 is set to run older software out the box before making the jump at some point next year.
As you might already be aware, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic will definitely come powered by the Wear OS 3-based One UI Watch platform in just a few days, which explains Fossil’s (feeble) attempt at stealing its rival’s thunder. It remains to be seen what kind of real-life magic the company can perform to ultimately get the Gen 6 on our list of the best smartwatches money can buy.
