Samsung seeks a bigger hand in the wearables market with its new smart ring
Ring in the new… Samsung showed off its latest wearable gadget: the Galaxy Ring. The biz said its smart ring will track wearers’ sleep movements, heart rate, menstrual cycles, fertility, and more. Samsung’s revamped health app will also aggregate users’ data into a holistic “Vitality Score.”
Green-bubble club: The Galaxy Ring will initially only be compatible with Samsung Galaxy devices but will likely open up to other Android phones down the line. It’s unlikely to work with Apple products.
Ecosystem: Samsung wants the Ring to be used alongside its Galaxy smart watch. The tech co said it’s building a connected ecosystem that’ll compile data from multiple devices (imagine: your Samsung fridge tells your ring you don’t drink enough water).
One ring to rule them all… Health-tracking wearables have exploded in popularity as people jibe with the “what gets measured, gets managed” mentality. Smart-ring startup Oura has thrived, selling 1M+ wellness-focused rings as of 2022. But competitors are rising up: yesterday, Huawei spinoff Honor announced it’s forging an AI-forward ring. Apple has been filing patents for a smart ring since at least 2015.
Hands on: Tech cos that already have wrist real estate, like Apple and Samsung, could get a digital edge by adding rings, which may be less obtrusive than watches.
Health sells… and so does health tracking. From logging habits in apps like Strava and MyFitnessPal to paying $2.5K for a preventative MRI scan, people love getting data on themselves. Almost a third of Americans wear a device to track their health and fitness, and half of those wearers use their device daily. The smart-ring market alone is expected to be worth $1.1B in 2028.