Bold claim: Mobvoi’s TicWatch era may be winding down, and Wear OS might feel lighter without its steady stream of updates. And this is the part most people miss: even strong hardware and solid value can be undone by slow software progress and fading brand presence.
Mobvoi has been a notable player in the smartwatch space for nearly a decade. Its US debut came with the TicWatch 2 in 2017, built on its own Android-rooted foundation. It didn’t take long before the company embraced Android Wear, and later fully committed to Wear OS. The 2018 TicWatch Pro marked a turning point, thanks to a distinctive dual-layer display that delivered multi-day battery life, a feature that persisted across subsequent models.
Over the years, Mobvoi released more than a dozen TicWatch devices powered by Wear OS. The brand earned a reputation for strong value and capable hardware, yet this reputation was repeatedly undermined by sluggish software updates. Wear OS 3 took roughly a year to reach TicWatch devices, and newer updates like Wear OS 6 have been conspicuously quiet from Mobvoi, leaving customers frustrated as they watched slower progress on Wear OS 5 as well.
The last TicWatch release from Mobvoi was the Atlas, launched over a year ago. It showcased a solid upgrade with Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, but the ongoing issue of infrequent software updates remained.
Recently, Mobvoi appears to have shifted away from Wear OS entirely. Online storefronts show TicWatch models as unavailable, and the company has largely removed TicWatch from its official site. The Products menu now emphasizes treadmills and a TicNote AI recorder, while the Atlas and Pro 5 Enduro appear only in a homepage slider and remain unavailable for purchase.
Requests for comment yielded a cautious reply from Mobvoi: there is no new information to announce about the TicWatch lineup, but existing devices will receive essential support. The delay between updates and the current silence strongly suggests that Mobvoi might be stepping back from Wear OS.
This shift matters because Wear OS’s legacy depended on several key brands beyond Google: Mobvoi and Fossil were early drivers, but Fossil exited smartwatch manufacturing in 2024. Tag Heuer also pivoted away from Wear OS to its own OS for iOS compatibility. Today, Wear OS lines up with Google Pixel, Samsung, OnePlus, and in some regions, Xiaomi and Oppo.
What’s next for Wear OS remains uncertain. Here are a few angles worth watching:
- The pace of official software updates and long-term support from remaining partners could define Wear OS’s viability.
- Brand presence and product availability on major retailers reflect a platform’s confidence and momentum.
- How Google, Samsung, and other partners adapt to the evolving landscape—through exclusives, OS forks, or new feature sets—will shape the user experience.
If this topic sparks debate: should Wear OS have stricter update guarantees or a more aggressive hardware roadmap from third-party partners to keep the ecosystem competitive? Would a dedicated OS fork from premium brands like Tag Heuer or Fossil be a sustainable path, or does it undermine the unity of the platform? Share your perspective in the comments.
