Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL; DR
- Fossil had recently announced that it would be exiting the Wear OS smartwatch market, although it would keep its existing Wear OS watches up to date in the coming years.
- The company recently held a sale and all of its smartwatches are now sold out.
- You can no longer officially buy a Fossil smartwatch with Wear OS, completing the company's exit from the market.
Apple cornered the smartwatch market with watches like the Apple Watch Series 9, and Google had some catching up to do Wear operating system. Before the Pixel watch and the OnePlus Watch 2 came along, Fossil had been holding down the fort with its lineup of great Wear OS smartwatches, giving Android users some competing options. Unfortunately, Fossil recently announced its intention to quit the smartwatch market, and now that time has come.
As noted by DroidLifeyou can no longer officially buy a Wear OS smartwatch from Fossil. Recently, Fossil had a stock fire sale, with their Wear OS smartwatches dropping to $79 (with the well-known caveat that the company is exiting the market). And now that stock has run out, they no longer have Wear OS smartwatches or hybrid smartwatches on offer.
Fossil assured that their existing Wear OS watches would be updated in the coming years. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out.
The report notes that Google shares some blame for Fossil's exit from the market. Google's deal with Samsung to grant them exclusivity with Wear OS 3 (while they worked on it together and shipped it on the Galaxy Watch 3) meant that Wear OS survived. However, other Wear OS watchmakers, such as Fossil, were forced to spend an entire year selling smartwatches that were a full OS version behind the competition. Google also doesn't have a dedicated Wear OS companion app, so watchmakers have to create their own companion app, which adds to the complexity of selling the hardware and keeping it up to date.
Fossil's departure was surprising, but not so much to anyone who kept a close eye on this space. Wear OS smartwatches are now starting to make a return, but Fossil has been getting the short end of the stick for a while during Wear OS's low phases.
Fossil's role as protector of Wear OS in its darkest days will forever remain in our collective memories. Fossil was as big as The Wall of Westeros and saved Android users from the Apple Watches monopoly that took over their empire and turned everyone into an iPhone user. Now that the last few Fossil smartwatches have finally sold out, it's time to say, “And now his watch is over.”