The Samsung Galaxy Ring has the flexibility to trace various health metrics similar to heart rate. It’s Samsung’s first foray into the smart ring category of product because it hopes to maintain users locked into its ecosystem of devices from smartwatches to smartphones.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
PARIS — Samsung launched the Galaxy Ring on Wednesday, its first foray into “smart rings.” The South Korean tech giant is seeking to integrate its products — similar to smartphones and wearables — and offer health-tracking features to rival Apple‘s push into the space.
The Galaxy Ring, which Samsung has teased for the past few months, is a light-weight ring equipped with sensors designed for health monitoring 24 hours a day, the corporate said at its Galaxy Unpacked event Wednesday in Paris.
Samsung’s push right into a recent product category comes at a time when smartphone sales are making a slight recovery but users are holding on to their handsets for longer. Device makers are on the lookout for add-on electronics products to sell.
For Samsung, the Galaxy Ring adds a recent device to its portfolio that may track health features alongside its smartphones and smartwatches. Over the past few years, Samsung has been attempting to market its health applications — that are increasingly popular amongst consumers — as an enormous reason to purchase such products.
And Samsung is positioning the ring as a tool to be worn alongside its smartwatches and with a smartphone, powered by artificial intelligence software, to supply a comprehensive picture of an individual’s health, a move which could help drive sales to its other products.
“This might be the star of the show with all eyes on this recent device and category for Samsung,” Paolo Pescatore, founding father of PP Foresight, told CNBC.
Pescatore said the ring is a “product that might help drive smartphones sales and migrate users over to its platform.”
Galaxy Ring key features and price
Samsung says the Galaxy Ring can monitor the next things:
- Sleep: The device can monitor an individual’s movement during sleep, sleep latency, heart and respiratory rate, and provides evaluation of the standard of sleep.
- Menstrual cycle: Samsung says it uses skin temperature to assist track an individual’s menstrual cycle.
- Heart rate: The Galaxy Ring can inform users when their heart rate is unusually high or low. Users may check their heart rate in real time.
- Exercise: The Galaxy Ring can detect the form of workout or activity an individual is doing.
The Galaxy Ring weighs between 2.3 grams and three grams, depending on what size you purchase. The device is available in three colours.
Samsung says the Galaxy Ring’s battery can last as long as seven days. There’s a transportable charging case, as with wireless air buds.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring might be available on July 24 and starts at $399.99.
Samsung ecosystem play
On Wednesday, Samsung also took the wraps off its latest smartwatches — the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra. It’s the primary time the corporate has released an “Ultra” model of its smartwatch, a tool designed for athletes and people into activities like mountaineering and mountaineering.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (left) and Galaxy Watch7 (right) are the South Korean giant’s latest smartwatches. It’s the primary time Samsung has released an “Ultra” version of its wearable.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
The watches include recent sensors and sports tracking features.
Samsung also launched its latest foldable devices on Wednesday: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6.
With the ring, Samsung is attempting to tie users more closely to its ecosystem of products.
For instance, when the smartwatch is connected to the phone, users can use a “double pinch” motion with their fingers to reply calls or take an image.
When the Galaxy Ring, smartwatch and phone are paired together, Samsung said, users get a more detailed picture of their health, especially when sleeping, since the devices are taking data from more sources. Samsung said the battery lifetime of the ring is prolonged when worn along with the smartwatch.
“Indeed, the watch and the ring are a part of expanding the ecosystem, which can grow to be increasingly vital as AI technology is laid on top of the info collected from different devices. The more devices a user has from the identical brand, the more comprehensive the info collected, enhancing the effectiveness of AI digital assistants,” Francisco Jeronimo, vp for devices research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at IDC, told CNBC by email.
“This truly personalized experience will drive users to decide on devices from one brand over one other.”
Samsung, like Apple, has been pushing the interconnectedness of its devices over the past years to maintain users engaged.

“It’s little surprise that Samsung is doubling-down on linking its products with an ‘ecosystem story.’ Apple has shown that driving interdependence between products is a particularly effective way of locking consumers into a particular brand,” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC.
Ring is a ‘area of interest’ product
Although the Galaxy Ring is unlikely to be an enormous seller by volume for Samsung, it underscores how the tech firm is seeking to expand its audience.
“The Galaxy Ring is an interesting bet by Samsung,” Wood said, adding that the product category is a “area of interest segment” and that around 4 million rings are expected to be shipped in 2025. It is a “rounding error” compared with the 250 million smartphones expected to be sold next yr.
“Nonetheless, it’s a tool category that matches well with growing consumer interest in tracking health metrics and it’s complementary with Samsung’s current smartwatch sales, particularly when monitoring sleep.”
While smartwatches are large devices, a wise ring is less intrusive and may be worn at night far more comfortably.
Samsung will not be the one company to sell such devices. Oura, one among the market pioneers, has sold 2.5 million units of its products over the past nine years, based on CCS Insight. With Samsung’s announcement of the ring earlier this yr, other players have grow to be fascinated about the market. CNBC reported in February that Chinese electronics player Honor is developing its own smart ring.
Wood said Samsung will have the opportunity to determine the smart ring market on a bigger scale than other competitors.
“Samsung is more likely to be the market-maker given its global reach and significant marketing budget which can raise awareness of a recent product category that almost all consumers won’t have even heard of,” Wood said.
The Galaxy Ring could open up recent revenue streams in software for Samsung. Users can get their data from the wearables via the Samsung Health app. Hon Pak, the top of the digital health team at Samsung, told CNBC in February that the corporate is “considering” a subscription service for the app.
“For Samsung, this category may not grow to be a serious revenue stream, but it surely helps expand the wearables portfolio and opens the door to recent services in the longer term, should they resolve to,” IDC’s Jeronimo said.