Samsung is not any stranger to the world of wearables. However this 12 months, it is increasing to a brand new product class for the primary time in years: sensible rings. The smartphone big teased its new Galaxy Ring at an occasion in January and showcased it at Mobile World Congress in February, signaling a significant enlargement of its efforts in well being monitoring.
However Samsung hasn’t revealed a lot about what to anticipate from the Galaxy Ring. The corporate confirmed the system in a obscure video clip on the finish of its Unpacked presentation and has allowed reporters — together with myself and CNET’s Katie Collins — to see a prototype of the ring. Nonetheless, the corporate hasn’t revealed key particulars like how a lot it is going to price, when it is going to arrive and, most significantly, what precisely it is going to do.
Samsung’s feedback recommend well being monitoring would be the ring’s major objective, following the lead of the Oura, Evie and different tiny wellness gadgets designed to be worn across the finger. Apple can be rumored to be experimenting with the concept of a wise ring, in response to Bloomberg, in one more signal that health-tracking rings could also be giving smartwatches extra competitors.
Here is what we all know in regards to the Galaxy Ring up to now. This story can be up to date as we study extra particulars.
Learn extra: Samsung’s Surprise Galaxy Ring: Who’s This Actually For?
The Galaxy Ring’s options can be all about well being
The Samsung Galaxy Ring
The Galaxy Ring will undoubtedly be a health-tracking system. Although Samsung did not say a lot in regards to the product itself, Samsung Analysis America’s Matthew Wiggins launched the ring throughout Samsung’s Unpacked keynote presentation by saying the corporate was “taking the chances of Samsung Well being to the subsequent stage.” He additionally described the ring as a “highly effective and accessible well being and wellness system.”
Samsung’s common strategy to well being monitoring comes right down to 4 areas of focus: exercise, vitamin, sleep and stress. That is in response to Hon Pak, vice chairman and head of the digital well being workforce for the cell expertise enterprise at Samsung Electronics, who sat down with CNET following Samsung Unpacked final month.
These core classes may present a clue in regards to the well being options we will count on on the Galaxy Ring. Samsung’s course will even be mirrored in some new options coming to the Samsung Well being app that had been introduced at Unpacked, similar to My Vitality Rating and Booster Card. The previous is much like Oura’s Readiness Score and Garmin’s Physique Battery, and it is meant to gauge your bodily and psychological readiness by assessing issues like sleep, exercise, resting coronary heart charge and coronary heart charge variability. Booster Card, in the meantime, surfaces insights and ideas all through the day, similar to offering observations which may clarify why your sleep rating was low final evening.
Samsung’s new My Vitality Rating function proven at Unpacked.
For the reason that Galaxy Ring will assist My Vitality Rating, it appears believable the ring will measure most of these metrics. Samsung’s new function will even embrace an interactive cognitive alertness check that may assist wearers perceive if their rating is correct, which can be out there on each the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch, Pak mentioned in our earlier interview.
Pak did not share extra particulars, however the Galaxy Ring would not be the primary wearable system to supply cognitive exams. The Pison Ready wristband, which I attempted at CES 2024, has an agility check that required me to rapidly reply to flashing lights coming from the wristband by opening my hand.
Sleep particularly will even probably be a giant space of focus for the Galaxy Ring, provided that it is smaller and fewer obtrusive to put on in a single day in comparison with a smartwatch. Good rings additionally sometimes provide longer battery life than smartwatches and health bands, due to their minimalist, screen-free designs.
“Some individuals desire a extra easy type issue, and [the] ring represents that,” Pak mentioned following Unpacked. “After which it is bought to be trendy, it is bought to be comfy, it is bought to have lengthy battery life. And people are the traits that we’re engaged on.”
Month-to-month cycle monitoring, which has change into pretty widespread in wearable gadgets, will even be a part of the Galaxy Ring’s choices, as my colleague Katie Collins reported. However what’s much more attention-grabbing is the concept the ring may doubtlessly work in tandem with a Galaxy Watch to offer extra exact well being statistics.
“We all know that, for instance, the efficiency of sleep staging (the classification of 5 completely different sleep levels) goes up when each gadgets are worn,” Pak mentioned to Collins.
Although Samsung hasn’t mentioned a lot about which well being options the ring will embrace, a report from Korean information outlet ETNews suggests it may have ECG monitoring and instruments for measuring blood stream. And whereas well being monitoring is predicted to be the ring’s major focus, ETNews additionally says it may embrace assist for wi-fi funds and the flexibility to manage different gadgets.
Learn extra: The Biggest Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Smartwatch
Galaxy Ring colours: Probably 3 choices to select from
Samsung’s Galaxy Ring
If the ultimate model of the Galaxy Ring is similar because the prototype I noticed after Unpacked, it is going to are available three colours: silver, darkish grey and gold. ETNews additionally experiences that the ring may are available eight sizes. That is much like the more recent look on the Galaxy Ring that my colleague bought to see, which was out there in 9 sizes and the identical gold, silver and ceramic black shade selections (the latter of which I described as grey earlier).
However my colleague Katie Collins found that battery dimension can differ relying on the dimensions of the ring. The smallest one had a 14.5 mAh battery, whereas the most important had a 21.5 mAh battery capability.
The design is simplistic and glossy, nearly resembling a standard groom’s marriage ceremony band. It seems to be much like the Oura ring. And just like the Oura ring, most individuals are more likely to mistake it for an everyday piece of jewellery.
The Galaxy Ring can be Android solely
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus.
Samsung’s sensible ring can be appropriate with Android gadgets, much like the Galaxy Watch. Nevertheless it’s unclear if that may all the time be the case. When requested if the Galaxy Ring could be Android solely, Pak responded, “Proper now, sure.” It is too quickly to know extra about Samsung’s future plans for the Galaxy Ring, however opening it as much as the iPhone will surely permit it to be extra aggressive with Oura.
The Galaxy Ring’s value and launch date are unknown
The Samsung Galaxy Ring
Samsung hasn’t mentioned a phrase about how a lot the Galaxy Ring will price or when it is going to launch. However different sensible rings, just like the Oura Ring, Evie Ring and Ultrahuman Ring Air sometimes price between $269 and $350 relying on the mannequin. It would not be shocking to see the Galaxy Ring fall someplace inside that vary.
Samsung sometimes releases new Galaxy Watch fashions within the August time-frame alongside its new Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable telephones. That might be a great time to formally introduce the Galaxy Ring, because it shares similarities with the Galaxy Watch. Based on ETNews, Samsung will introduce the system at an Unpacked occasion in July.
We’ll have to attend to listen to extra particulars from Samsung. But when one factor appears sure, it is that Samsung is doubling down on its ambitions in well being monitoring with the Galaxy Ring.
