Samsung’s Surprise New Galaxy Ring Is A Serious Game Changer The Oura Ring has been a game changer for low-profile health and sleep tracking. Update below, and this is the future of wearable technology. At least, the near future of wearable technology. Maybe some of us will be tattooing health trackers onto our skins at some point. For now, though, a low-profile, yet highly accomplished, smart ring is the easiest way to get regular, accurate recordings of your vital statistics. In fact, Oura has done such a fine job that Samsung is now entering the smart ring arena with its new “Galaxy ring” that it teased at this month’s Galaxy S24 launch event.
A tech giant entering the market means two things: cheaper devices and new features. We only know a bit about the new ring. Mostly it’s light, slim and well-designed, according to an analyst who got a sneak peak. Speaking to The Verge, a Samsung spokesman said that the new wearable will have “leading sensor technologies” and that it would be comfortable enough to wear 24/7
Surprise Google Chrome Warning Issued For All Windows Users Apple Loop iPhone 16 Pro Leaks iPhone 15 Pro Issues The Magical Apple Unboxing Phone 2024: ‘The Biggest’ Free Update In Apple’s History, Coming Soon Being comfortable to wear all the time is a given. But it’s also an indirect comment on the current crop of smart watches that simply aren’t comfortable to wear around the clock.
I’m a big fan of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6, and before that the Watch 5 Pro, but sleeping with either one feels unnatural. There’s also the added problem of looking at a screen right before bed, which experts say is bad for sleep hygiene. Google’s second generation Nest Hub found a way around uncomfortable wearables by monitoring your breathing and movement as you sleep via low-power radar sensors. A smart solution that is, unfortunately, a bit creepy. Also, I was never convinced by its accuracy.
The Oura ring, and the very concept of smart jewelry, is the superior alternative. There’s no screen that interrupts your sleep hygiene, you don’t feel it on your body, it has elite sleep tracking and the battery lasts longer than a smartwatch. The Oura ring is reasonably priced at $299, especially up against other wearables. But there’s room for that price to drop with some competition.
This is where Samsung will make a serious dent in the market. The company is hyper-aggressive about pricing. People who pre-ordered the Galaxy S24 also got a free Galaxy Watch 6 for a limited time. Right now the company is running a 15% off promotion on the Watch 6 range, and it has a perpetual 5% discount if you buy any of its products through the Samsung Shopping app.
The company will also take in your old wearables for a discount on its new tech, often inflating those trade-in prices around a product launch. All of these deals and discounts will pop up repeatedly throughout the year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Ring launches with a series of money-off deals, or it gets bundled in with the Galaxy Fold 6 when it lands this summer. If Samsung keeps all of the health tracking features free instead of hiding some of it behind a subscription tier like the Oura Ring does, then we’ll get a good idea of just how aggressive the Korean company wants to be with this new product range. MThere’s also the prospect of Samsung’s new generative AI tech.
What does AI look like in a smart ring? Perhaps I can explain, in full sentences, how I felt I slept throughout the night and the AI uses that—alongside the data from the ring—to create a more accurate picture of my evening’s slumber. Or maybe I can explain what I was actually doing when the ring automatically detected stress and exercise, therefore accurately categorizing it.
So jogging for the bus or a moment of stress has some context. The unknown quantity of how Samsung will deploy AI in the Galaxy Ring is the most intriguing part of the new device. The high likelihood of aggressive pricing also will make the wearable accessible. But, most importantly, the competition will follow suit and the smart ring market will grow very quickly over the next two years, which is only good news for consumers. Update February 1st: Shortly after Samsung’s Galaxy Ring announcement, Oura’s CEO, Tom Hale, said in an interview with Tom’s Guide that the company is working on new features for the Oura Ring. The first of those new features has just landed, a stress measuring tool called Resilience.
Oura says that the new feature will measure how resilient users are to “psychological stress.” This seems to be based on the intensity and frequency of a user’s daily stress levels, which is then measured against how the user’s vitals return to normal during the day, and how well they sleep at night. When totalled up, the app spits out a rating from “limited” to “exceptional.”The company offers users tips on how to “build resilience,” which is based on diet, exercise and some mindfulness techniques that Oura says will aid recovery. The company is yet to determine the new feature’s accuracy and effectiveness, but it is clearly betting on creating new health stats using existing sensors.
The Resilience feature page also talks up how stress management can aid longevity, which is a popular health trend right now. Samsung has some catching up to do to get its Galaxy Ring experience up to par with established devices like Oura. The Korean company already has an in-depth set of health features in the Samsung Health app. But making a unique experience that’s tailored to smart ring users, rather than just adding a new piece of hardware to its roster that uses existing software, is a different challenge.