Samsung teased an addition to its wearable portfolio alongside the official unveiling of Galaxy S24 during its Unpacked Event on Wednesday, January 17th. The wearable, dubbed “Galaxy Ring”, seeks to offer a more discreet and comfortable alternative to smartwatches. The Galaxy Ring is designed to appeal to those who want to track their health and activities with a more aesthetic and subtle device as compared to a larger wearable.
The teaser video unveiled by the South Korean tech giant did little to provide key information on the device apart from what the device will look like. At the moment, we can only speculate on when the device will hit the markets among other details taking pointers from other competitors such as Oura Ring by the Finnish company, Oura Health.
What we know so far
The health and wellness-focused Galaxy Ring will, of course, be a ring, with reports that it will be available in four sizes. According to Korean tech media, The Elec, Samsung could unveil the ring later in the third quarter of 2024 – just around when we expect the Galaxy Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 to be unveiled. Other rumors suggest an early 2025 launch date – as I said, more speculations, with the device still shrouded in mystery.
The ring could come with a small display or feature LED lights for notifications. Images of the Galaxy Ring reveal three sensors for fitness and health tracking on the lower side of the ring. Like most other health-focused wearables, the ring will most likely be getting similar features to Samsung’s wrist-based wearables. This includes activity tracking, sleep tracking and possible heart rate monitoring.
There are speculations that the ring could support other advanced health features such as blood pressure tracking and ECG capabilities. But given that some of these features require regulatory approval, it may be some time before we see them after launch.
Apart from the health and fitness features, the Galaxy Ring could come with some additional features such as Media Control. I don’t know, but controlling music, or accepting and rejecting calls at the tip of my finger – similar to the Galaxy Bud’s touch system – sounds fun and could be handy.
This is something we’d like to see together with features such as temperature tracking following the official release. For now, we have to wait for most of these features to be confirmed.
Price
There has been no official information on the device’s price, but we can have a rough estimate given the pricing of other smart rings. The Oura Ring currently goes for $299 (around KES 48,289) with other competitors such as Ultrahuman Ring AIR going for $349.
Additionally, with the Galaxy Watch 6 price starting from $299 it is unlikely that the Galaxy Ring will go for a value over $300.
We’ll keep this post updated as more details become available, be sure to circle back!
