Fossil’s New Wear OS Smartwatch Just Leaked

‘Tis the season for flagship smartwatches, and the latest to leak is Fossil’s forthcoming Gen 6. It’ll be the primary Fossil watch to sport Qualcomm’s present Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chip, and might be one of many first non-Samsung smartwatches to run to the brand new Wear OS. Eventually.

The leak comes courtesy of German tech web site WinFuture, and at the very least when it comes to design, it doesn’t seem to be Fossil’s rocking the boat a lot. Fair sufficient—Samsung determined to stay with the acquainted for its new Wear OS watches as properly. And as at all times, there looks like there are roughly 50,000 colorways and strap choices for each women and men. The Gen 6 renders trace we’ll see a 1.28-inch OLED show in both a 42 or 44mm case. In phrases of well being options, the Gen 6 will supposedly assist SpO2, cardio health ranges, and sleep monitoring on prime of the everyday metrics like steps and exercise objectives. There can even be GPS assist and an estimated battery lifetime of 24 hours.

None of that is tremendous stunning. Shortly after Google and Samsung introduced they have been engaged on a unified Wear OS, Fossil executives have been fast to say the corporate was engaged on a brand new flagship. At the time, they promised world LTE choices, quicker efficiency, and higher battery life—whereas additionally dropping the bomb that the corporate’s present watches wouldn’t be upgraded to Wear OS 3. Given that we all know the Gen 6 will sport a 4100+ chip, that doesn’t bode properly for any Android smartwatch powered by a 3100 chip.

That mentioned, there’s cause to be a little bit cautious. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform is a big step up however continues to be utilizing outdated 12nm tech. Despite launching over a yr in the past, it solely powers a small handful of watches—with Fossil’s steady of Android smartwatches notably lacking. Instead of launching a 4100-powered Gen 6 watch final fall, Fossil as a substitute opted to launch a less expensive Gen 5E and an LTE model of its 2019 Gen 5. Google additionally famous final month that not each smartwatch could be eligible to improve to Wear OS 3, and people which might be gained’t be getting it till at the very least mid-2022.

“For the previous generation of Wear OS smartwatches, a system update to Wear OS 3 will bring the benefit of many new experiences, and in some limited cases, the user experience will be impacted,” Google wrote. Not too lengthy after, Qualcomm launched a wearable accelerator program and quietly famous it deliberate to roll out a brand new Snapdragon Wear platform within the subsequent yr. All this maybe hints that whereas 4100-powered watches will be capable to run Wear OS 3, they may not be beefy sufficient to unlock the platform’s full potential.

This isn’t to say the Gen 6 might be unhealthy. The leaked specs alone trace it’ll be a much-needed enchancment on the Gen 5 and its variants. It’s extra to say that the Gen 6 is likely to be a transitional look ahead to Fossil as Qualcomm rushes to place out a wearable chip that doesn’t suck. And relying on how quickly subsequent yr the next-gen Snapdragon Wear platform arrives, this is likely to be a flagship with a shorter-than-average lifespan.

WinFuture estimates the Gen 6 will doubtless go on sale on Sept. 27 for €299 or €329—or someplace within the $350-$400 vary. With that timeline, it means we’ll doubtless hear the official deets from Fossil within the coming weeks.