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The Samsung Galaxy Ring is now an official product after being revealed in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress in February 2024. And it’s going to be more popular than Vision Pro.
First teased at S24 Unpacked earlier in 2024, the Samsung Galaxy Ring signalled the first major entry into this space from a big-name tech company. Although details are still scarce, the Galaxy Ring is already one of the most exciting products of the year.
The upcoming release by Samsung falls in line with an industry-wide push to diversify offerings away from smartphones, tablets and laptops. Apple, for example, is also rumoured to be working on their own Apple smart ring.
Let’s take a closer look at all we know about the specs, features, pricing, and design of the Samsung Galaxy Ring so far. This is an exciting one!
What Is The Samsung Galaxy Ring?
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is a smart ring. Smart rings work in similar ways to smartwatches in that they offer convenient, unobtrusive health and well-being tracking. That means you can keep an eye on things like heart rate, blood pressure and sleep quality whilst wearing them.
These already exist, most notably in the form of the Oura Ring which is by far (at the moment) the market leader. Whilst the Oura Ring is sleek in its design and extremely well-refined in its features, the shadow of bigger companies like Apple and Samsung are beginning to loom large in their rearview mirror.
While Samsung has released a wide range of wearables in the past, such as the Galaxy Watch and fitness trackers, this is their first foray into the world of smart rings. We can expect lots of those features to appear in the Galaxy Ring that already exist in the Galaxy Watch.
Design and Colors
The big thing we have confirmed so far is the Samsung Galaxy Watch’s design. For the first time, Samsung has released official press images of what the Samsung Ring will look like.
On the whole, I think it looks great. There’s only so much you can do with the look of a ring, but the concave design Samsung has gone for really differentiates it from Oura’s approach. The shiny metallic finish is very similar to the Oura Ring’s which is fine, but I would like to see some more interesting options. Perhaps a matte colourway?
We know of three colours so far; ceramic black, platinum silver, and gold, of which the black looks the coolest.
The ring is designed to be used day and night and has a tapering design in the middle to foster a snug and secure fit. There are also multiple different sizes, from 5 to 13, which corresponds to small through XL.
Health and Fitness Tracking
One of the key highlights of the Samsung Galaxy Ring is its anticipated advanced health and fitness tracking capabilities. Samsung is being tight-lipped about the exact features, but some have been hinted at.
We do know that the Samsung Ring is equipped with sensors that can monitor various health metrics, including heart rate, breathing rate and night movement. These can be combined to offer sleep quality tracking.
This may also mean that it could even detect early signs of sleep apnea, but this is unconfirmed.
The Galaxy Ring will also calculate a user’s ‘My Vitality Score’; a new metric based on a model created by the University of Georgia. Based on a combination of daily activity, sleep quality, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability, the Score will show users, Samsung says, a holistic view of their health.
This feature will also be available on the Galaxy Watch through a software update. I’m not entirely sure how useful or healthy it is to live by an aggregated ‘score’ of your health, but it is impressive that all of it can be measured by such a small bit of tech.
Things like the ‘My Vitality Score’ are designed as differentiators, reasons for consumers to pick Samsung’s product instead of existing ones. Will it actually be useful? I think not.
But there are other reasons to choose a Samsung Galaxy Ring over the Oura or something else…
Integration with Galaxy Watch and SmartThings
To a lesser used extent than Apple, Samsung has its own ecosystem of devices. But make no mistake, it is an ecosystem with a huge range of devices.
I’m talking smart hoovers, fridges, washing machines and security cameras. Samsung is the leader in smart home devices and the Galaxy Ring seamlessly integrates with this network.
Most importantly, the Ring is intended as a companion to the Galaxy Watch. It is hoped the Ring will enhance overall health and activity tracking by offering more comprehensive, 24/7 health monitoring.
For example, the Galaxy Watch’s battery lasts around 35 hours under continuous use. So if you forget to charge it, or you take your watch off to sleep, for example, the Galaxy Ring can pick up the slack.
Overall, a Samsung smart ring will be able to ‘talk’ to any other Samsung SmartThings that you own. That means in future there could be capacitive buttons to control other devices, like turning your washing machine off or, more excitingly, VR.
Rumours of a Samsung VR headset have been swirling without any input from Samsung themselves for years now. But a smart ring that has spatial sensing could be used to transform people’s hands into highly accurate VR headset controllers.
A smart device network, that can constantly monitor your movements and home, is either your idea of heaven or hell. Either way, it’s where Samsung wants to get to.
Samsung Smartphone Compatibility
At launch, the Samsung Galaxy Ring will be exclusively compatible with Samsung Galaxy smartphones. However, Samsung has plans to expand compatibility to more Android devices in the future which is a generous offering if you ask me.
Apple sure as hell ain’t going to be doing that. It’ll be yet another device trying to tempt people to lock themselves into the Apple ecosystem.
The Galaxy Ring connects to smartphones via Bluetooth, much like Galaxy Watches. Users will be able to access their health and fitness data through the Samsung Health app where the Galaxy Ring will display its data.
Samsung Galaxy Ring Release Date And Pricing
Samsung hasn’t released any information about a release date or potential price. Samsung has regular events throughout the year so we can expect them to announce a release date soon, perhaps at the next Unpacked.
We are expecting a release before the end of 2024 though so fingers crossed.
Samsung Trumps The Vision Pro?
I’m not saying Vision Pro has flopped, and I don’t buy into the ‘Vision Pro is being returned by customers’ hype either. VR is a long game for Apple and they know what this first-generation model is; a prototype/developer model. They won’t care if it doesn’t sell that well yet.
But, it does feel like the Samsung Galaxy Ring is being more hotly anticipated by the general public. And, to be honest, I’m more excited about it too. Smart rings sit in a sweet spot. They are more affordable to more people, unobtrusive and packed with useful features.
Accessible tech is the best kind of tech. Vision Pro is the opposite and because of that fact, it has quickly left the public’s consciousness. Bring on the smart rings, please!
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is genuinely very exciting. It is just objectively cool to have a bit of smart tech wrapped around your finger. And the more companies that get involved, the cheaper and more innovative smart rings will become.
A lucky few have been able to get their hands on the ring already, and early impressions have been positive. The sleek design has impressed as has the comfortable fit that has very limited, if any, levels of friction.
I can’t see a reason why smart rings won’t be widely adopted fairly quickly. They’re a much easier sell than VR and are much more than a gimmick. I’m sold already and I haven’t even worn one!
Would you buy a smart ring? Let me know below!
