One of the exciting things that Google announced at last month’s I/O developer’s conference is that they are partnering with Samsung and combining Wear OS and Tizen into a new platform. The next question though was whether those devices that are in both existing platforms will be upgraded to the new one. Well, we’re getting an answer now, at least from Fossil as the brand’s executives have confirmed that existing Wear OS watches will not get upgraded to the upcoming platform.
In an interview with CNET, Fossil’s Chief Commercial Officer Greg McKelvey and Steve Prokup, senior vice president of connected devices talked about the Gen 6 watch which will be their next major smartwatch release. They are planning to make this a premium device that will have “pretty major hardware upgrades” and will be similar to the ones that Google and Samsung are planning to release on their joint platform.
This is of course pretty exciting as we can expect faster smartwatches, improved battery life, better performing chips, and LTE cellular options. Basically all the software benefits of the Google-Samsung partnership will also be part of the upcoming new smartwatch. The bad news though is that the current Fossil devices that are on the current Wear OS will not be upgraded to the combined, new Wear OS platform. They will be “budget options” once the new devices roll out.
The Fossil family of watch brands has been one of the biggest supporters of Google’s Wear OS and over the years, they have released several lines and variants, including the Diesel and Skagen brands. While the current watches in the market are working fine with its current platform, hearing that it won’t be upgraded must be pretty disappointing for owners of such smartwatches. And with Gen 6 slated to become a premium brand, we don’t even know if people will spend enough to upgrade to it.
There are no other details about the upcoming Gen 6 device just yet as they are still in the planning stages. Prokup said that they will be offering a variety of products so we can expect more lines and variants in the future.
