Samsung Unveils Its First Smart Ring Wearable, the AI-Backed Samsung Galaxy Ring

Samsung has announced an expansion of its wearables line-up beyond smartwatches and earbuds and into smart rings, unveiling the Samsung Galaxy Ring — launching later this month.

"The latest additions to our wearables portfolio integrate Samsung's most advanced technologies and innovations, enabling you to take control of your health and wellness with preventative healthcare solutions," claims Samsung's TM Roh, president and head of the company's "Mobile eXperience Business" division. "The intelligence, guidance and insights that are offered with Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Watch7, and Galaxy Watch Ultra will help users turn data into meaningful insights and create a whole new era of expanded intelligent health experiences."

While the Galaxy Watch7 and Watch Ultra are, essentially, evolutions of Samsung's existing smartwatch products, the Galaxy Ring is entirely new. Taking a leaf from rivals in the wearables market, like Oura, Samsung has designed a ring equipped with a range of sensors designed to offer health tracking — including a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor for heart rate and an accelerometer for motion tracking, delivering what the company calls "Sleep Score" and "Energy Score" information through on-device artificial intelligence (AI) processing when paired with a compatible smartphone. A skin-temperature sensor can also deliver menstrual cycle tracking, the company says.

The ring itself weighs 2.3-3g (around 0.08-0.11oz), depending on size chosen, and is finished in titanium with a claimed water resistance good to ten atmospheres. Designed for 24/7 operation, Samsung claims the ring can deliver up to seven days from a single charge of the size-dependent 18-23.5mAh battery — then is quickly topped up with the bundled charging case, which includes a 361mAh battery of its own, with a 30-minute charge topping the ring up to 40 per cent.

While Samsung makes much of the new Galaxy Ring's capabilities, the company is also positioning it as a cross-selling opportunity for the most health-conscious — claiming that those who have both a Galaxy Watch and a Galaxy Ring will enjoy "a more seamless and accurate health analysis," while boosting the battery life of the Galaxy Ring by up to 30 per cent.

The Galaxy Ring is now available to pre-order on the Samsung store and from the company's resellers, priced at $399.99, ahead of general availability on July 24th.