Fossil announced this month that it is done with smartwatches and that no more Wear OS models will be arriving. And according to new data, despite being the only name in Wear OS for years, Fossil has struggled to make a real impact on the market.
When it revealed that it would no longer make smartwatches, Wear OS or otherwise, Fossil said the move was a "strategic decision" because "the smartwatch landscape has evolved significantly." And indeed, things have changed dramatically since Fossil started this whole project.
Fossil introduced the first generation of Wear OS watches in 2015 with creator Fossil Q. At the time, the platform was still called Android Wear, and Fossil Group was just one of many brands testing the platform. At the time, Motorola, LG, Asus, Huawei and others produced smart watches. But one by one those names began to fall out of favor, as the Apple Watch sold millions and completely changed the game in the smartwatch market.
For a long time, Fossil was the only "big" name in Android smartwatches. Mobvoi's TicWatch brand offers great devices at affordable prices, but Fossil is a more well-known and trusted name and usually has a wider variety of designs. Furthermore, in terms of absolute numbers, the Fossil group has shipped numerous smartwatches with brands such as Skagen, Michael Kors, Kate Spade and others.
However, this strategy does not seem to have much effect.
According to IDC's Francisco Jeronimo, Fossil is expected to sell about 19 million smartwatches between 2015 and 2023. That's just 2.2% of the market over that period, and compared to the 248 million Apple Watches sold in those years. The peak of fossil success appears to have occurred in 2017, when fossils controlled 6.7% of the market.
Why is Fossil in trouble? In reality there is no reason.
Fossil group brands are known for their traditional watches, which may play a role, but Google's platform was also largely ignored during the years Fossil was active, hindering the functionality of Fossil's releases. The Qualcomm smartwatch-centric Snapdragon chips used by Fossil have also been very weak so far, and Fossil watches often feel slower and laggy than other brands' Android Wear and Wear OS options.
Regardless, Fossil is the main reason Wear OS is still around today. It's a shame that Fossil Group's brands are being overlooked, but given this new data, it's clear why the company is giving up too.
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