Fossil decided to give up on smartwatches. This afternoon, the company announced that it is exiting the smartwatch business and instead shifting resources toward its less smart products. The company has been one of the most prolific WearOS smartwatch manufacturers for years, and its exit will leave a huge void in the market.
Fossil spokesperson Amanda Castelli said: "As the smart watch space has grown significantly over the past few years, we have made the strategic decision to exit the smart watch business. Fossil is realigning resources to support our core strengths and core parts of the business that continue to provide us with strong growth opportunities: the design and distribution of exciting traditional watches, jewelry and leather goods, including private label and licensed brands."
This means that the Gen6, first launched in 2021, will be the last Fossil smartwatch. Castelli said the company will continue to update existing WearOS watches "over the next few years."
If you've been paying attention to Fossil over the past few months, this news won't come as a shock. Some Reddit users have reported Fossil retail employees saying Fossil is exiting the business, while others on the platform who claim to have "insider knowledge" say the company is waiting for new chipsets.
During the WearOS camp's toughest years, the company regularly launched smartwatches and was a frequent presence at CES. However, the company was noticeably absent from the show earlier this month.
In addition, Fossil was originally expected to announce news of a new 7th generation smartwatch using Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 Plus platform in 2023, but it has only heard nothing about it for a whole year, and now we know why.