For Fossil, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

When Fossil announced it was leaving the Android smartwatch space, I wasn’t surprised. The signs had been there for a while. What I didn’t expect was how sad it made me feel. Fossil’s smartwatches had never been the best. Their battery life was meh, health tracking could be iffy, and before Wear OS 3, the company was often let down by Google’s neglect. But now that Fossil has called it quits, it’s left a massive vacuum in the Wear OS ecosystem. Who, if anyone, can fill that void? Is there even a point when Google and Samsung dominate that space?

It’s been a few months, and I’m still not sure there’s a real answer.

Throughout Wear OS’s dark days — back when it was Android Wear, even — Fossil soldiered on. It continued to make…

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