Fossil exists smartwatch business, Gen 6 Wear OS smartwatches still heavily discounted

Fossil has decided to quit making smartwatches. The company has announced it is leaving the smartwatch business and will be redirecting the resources to the products that are less smart instead. That means that the Gen 6 lineup is the last generation of the brand’s smart wearables.

In an interview with The Verge, Fossil spokesperson Amanda Castelli said the company understood how significantly the smartwatch landscape has evolved over the past few years. With that in consideration, the brand made a “strategic” decision to quit making smartwatches. It will now focus on non-smart products such as jewelry, traditional watches, and leather goods.

While this decision from Fossil may be surprising to some, there were hints pointing out that Fossil’s smartwatches may have come to a dead end before. In December of last year, reports originating from sources close to the smartwatch maker and its employees suggested that there wouldn’t be any Gen 7 Wear OS lineup.

Well, with this announcement from Fossil, it seems that the reports were actually true. Additionally, the company heavily discounted its last Wear OS smartwatches in December. All variants of the Gen 6 Wellness Edition are still available on the official site for just $99, down from $299. The regular version also occasionally goes on sale in third-party retailers (Gen 6 44 mm smartwatch curr. $163 on Amazon).

Nonetheless, it’s unfortunate to see Fossil let go of its Wear OS smartwatch expertise. But as the spokesperson said, the landscape did change a lot, with Samsung partnering with Google and Google releasing its own smartwatches (Google Pixel Watch curr. $238.62 on Amazon).