Fossil's new Gen 6 is the first Snapdragon Wear 4100+ smartwatch

Unsurprisingly, the Gen 6 watches don't run Wear OS 3 out of the box.

What you need to know

• Fossil has announced its next-generation Gen 6 series wearables.
• The smartwatches will get the Wear OS 3 update sometime in 2022.
• They are now available to pre-order for a starting price of $299.

Fossil, which is known to make some of the best Android smartwatches, today announced the launch of the first wearables powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100+ platform. The Snapdragon Wear 4100+ was introduced in June last year, alongside the standard Snapdragon Wear 4100.

Even though it's not as powerful as the 5nm Exynos W920 chip inside the Galaxy Watch 4 series, the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ promises faster app load times and higher power efficiency than the previous generation Snapdragon Wear 3100 platform.

Fossil's new Gen 6 smartwatches come in two sizes: 42mm and 44mm. All variants feature a 1.28-inch circular AMOLED display with a pixel density of 326 PPI. They also boast an upgraded heart rate sensor that enables continuous tracking with improved signal accuracy. There's a new SpO2 sensor as well, capable of tracking an estimate of your blood oxygen levels.

Aside from improved performance and upgraded health sensors, the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches bring significantly faster charging speeds than their predecessors. Fossil claims the Gen 6's charging speed is "two times faster than the leading smartwatch," taking just 30 minutes to reach 80%. Thanks to the always-on co-processor in the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ platform and Fossil's Smart Battery Modes, the new smartwatches allow for "24 hours of battery life or multiple days in Extended Battery Mode."

Other key highlights of Fossil's Gen 6 smartwatches include a built-in speaker for tethered phone calls, Google Assistant support, and 3 ATM water resistance. If you are a Spotify Premium user, you can continue to enjoy your music and podcasts offline on the new watches.

Fossil Gen 6 will receive the Wear OS 3 system update sometime in 2022, along with a few other updates to improve the user experience further. The smartwatches are now available to pre-order from Fossil's website for a starting price of $299. Fossil has confirmed that the Michael Kors Gen 6 smartwatches are also on their way.

Fossil Gen 6 Smartwatch

From $299 at Fossil

Fossil's latest Wear OS smartwatches bring faster performance, upgraded wellness features, and improved battery life. The Gen 6 watches come in seven styles with four colorways in a 44mm case and three colorways in a 42mm case.