Fossil teases ‘way faster’ Gen 6 smartwatch ahead of Galaxy Watch 4 launch

Fossil isn’t letting Samsung have all the fun.

What you need to know

• Fossil teases its upcoming Gen 6 smartwatch.
• The upcoming smartwatch will run Wear OS and likely be powered by a much faster chipset.
• Fossil has previously referred to its new smartwatch as a “premium” offering.

Fossil is officially gearing up for the launch of its upcoming Gen 6 smartwatch, as per an email from the watchmaker that has begun circulating. The email boldly teases a product that is “way more” and “way faster” without divulging any details.

The teaser also refers to the Gen 6 as the company’s “most advanced smartwatch,” suggesting some notable upgrades are on the way.

Fossil has teased its upcoming wearable before, speaking to CNET about its plans to launch a “premium” smartwatch. The company has been mum on details regarding the upcoming device but has indicated that it will benefit from the improvements that Samsung and Google have incorporated into the upcoming Wear OS 3 update.

That said, a later announcement from Google regarding Wear OS 3 upgrade eligibility suggested that upcoming Fossil devices may not see the new update until next year, along with some of the best Android smartwatches from Mobvoi. That said, Fossil appears set to offer hardware upgrades to help make Wear OS faster and more responsive, likely in the form of newer chipsets like the Snapdragon Wear 4100.

A faster chipset would itself be a huge deal for the company that already makes great Wear OS watches. Despite other devices running Qualcomm’s new chip, Fossil’s latest offerings like the Fossil Gen 5 LTE stuck to the older Snapdragon 3100, which isn’t quite as snappy.

The new teaser arrives just days before Samsung is set to announce the new Galaxy Watch 4, which will be the first smartwatch to run the new Wear OS 3 update. The company has already shown off some aspects of One UI Watch, and we should finally have a complete picture of what Wear OS will be capable of at the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event.

With Samsung rumored to launch the Galaxy Watch 4 with a new BIA sensor and a model with a rotating bezel, it’ll be interesting to see how Fossil plans to differentiate its wearables.