Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch Teased Ahead Of Galaxy Watch 4 Announcement

Samsung definitely has a big day coming this week, in spite and despite of all the leaks stealing its thunder. Not just the two third-gen foldable phones but also the Galaxy Watch 4 are at the center of attraction at Unpacked 2021. It seems, however, that Fossil also wants to steal a bit of that excitement by teasing that a Gen 6 model of its Wear OS smartwatch is coming soon, though some seem to be doubtful how true its claims will turn out to be.

The main part of the interest around the Galaxy Watch 4 can probably be attributed to the latest version of Wear OS that, for the first time, mixes a custom UI on top. This blend of Samsung's One UI experience and Wear OS foundations prefigures what will happen to future Wear OS smartwatches. That future, however, is still far away, at least for some brands.

Fossil was actually one the first to imply that its current smartwatches won't be upgraded to Wear OS 3. Instead, it mentioned an upcoming premium smartwatch, not that it hadn't made high-end smartwatches on par with other Android Wear, now Wear OS, models of their time. Now, however, Fossil is claiming that the most advanced smartwatch is coming from its brand.

What that "fastest" means can be a lot of different things. It could be faster at processing with a Snapdragon Wear 4100, or it could be faster at charging. The Snapdragon Wear 4100 is definitely a much-needed upgrade, but it only puts on the same level as Mobvoi's TicWatch 3 series.

And then there's the Galaxy Watch 4, which will also come with a new Exynos wearable platform and Wear OS 3. That combination could actually prove to be faster on multiple grounds, but it remains to be seen how it works in practice.