Samsung’s Mysterious Galaxy Ring Is Ready To Take On Oura
Samsung is getting into the health tracking ring game with its own Oura competitor.
At the risk of being too punny, there was a lot to unpack at Samsung’s latest Unpacked hardware event.
A whole lot of AI, new phones (the Galaxy S24 series) with new hardware, and... did I mention a ton of AI? Even with all of that, Samsung found room for a bit of a surprise, though, which is to say, its first-ever health-tracking smart ring.
Samsung Galaxy Ring
If you’re expecting a big spec dump here, I must (sadly) disappoint you. Samsung didn’t offer much in the way of telling us what the Galaxy Ring can do outside of a brief teaser that suggested that it’s integrated with Samsung Health, which... well, duh.
On top of that, there was no mention of price or release date for the Galaxy Ring and Samsung hasn’t gotten around to putting out any official literature on the gadget either. According to CNET, which got an up-close look at the health wearable, the Galaxy Ring will come in at least three colors: silver, gold, and dark grey. Also, according to a report from SamMobile, which also got some hands-on time with the device, it’s very lightweight — not a bad thing for a smart ring to be — and will come in various sizes up to 13 inches. Still, very mysterious!
So, in lieu of all that, I’ll make some guesses — or more accurately, a wishlist. I’d like to see Samsung’s Galaxy track sleep, blood oxygen, stress, heart rate, body temperature, and respiratory rate. What I’m saying is: I’d like to see the Galaxy Ring do everything Oura’s ring can do but at a lower price.
Oura’s health-tracking rings are neat little gadgets, but they do not come cheaply. Currently, the base model costs a fairly steep $299. When you stop to consider that a smartwatch with all of the comparable health-tracking features costs potentially less than that and has a screen for getting notifications from your phone on the fly and other useful stuff, it does seem a little outrageous.
That being said, for some people, not having a screen is a pro and not a con. Personally, I don’t need another omnipresent screen in my life, so if health tracking is something I really wanted to introduce into my day-to-day, a ring like Oura’s or Samsung’s makes perfect sense.
Plus, if I were to bet, I’d say that Samsung can probably offer a very competitive price on this form factor with just as much acumen in the actual sensor department.
When Will the Galaxy Ring Come Out?
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the Galaxy Ring has to offer. I can only assume its release isn’t super far off, given the fact that Samsung chose to tease it at its annual Unpacked keynote.
As always, we’ll keep you updated on what the Galaxy Ring is bringing to your finger when we know more.
This article was originally published on
