Smart ring emerges as new battleground for IT device makers
Samsung, Honor and possibly Apple look to take new market
“This product can be used for five to nine days without recharging and is always worn on the body, so it can capture important health information. ”
Samsung Electronics, Honor and possibly Apple are vying to compete in the blossoming smart ring market optimized for health care management, with Samsung recently unveiling its Galaxy Ring, Honor announcing plans for a new gadget and Apple filing several related patents, according to industry officials, Monday.
A smart ring is a wearable device that monitors the user’s heart rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure, body temperature and sleep patterns, and enables various additional activities such as digital payments.
Since continuous monitoring of users’ health data has become important in terms of health management, the industry view is that this device-related market will become a new battleground for IT device makers.
Market researcher Global Market Insights estimated that the smart ring market, which was $210 million in 2023, will grow to $1 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.1 percent.
On Feb. 26, Samsung Electronics unveiled its new smart ring, the Galaxy Ring, at the MWC tech fair held in Barcelona. Although visitors were not able to try on this new device, it was the first time that the actual product was revealed.
Roh Tae-moon, president and head of the mobile experience business at Samsung, introduced the ring as a digital health care product in a meeting with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won who visited Samsung’s booth.
“This product can be used for five to nine days without recharging and is always worn on the body, so it can capture important health information,” Roh said. “It doesn’t have a telephone feature yet. It currently only has sensors, so it can transfer biometric information to a smartphone.”
Hon Pak, vice president and head of the digital health team at Samsung, added that the sensor-equipped Galaxy Ring will be able to measure heart rate, respiration rate, movement during sleep and time it takes to fall asleep.
Samsung has not yet revealed the specific release date for the Galaxy Ring, but the industry view is that the company is expected to launch the Galaxy Ring in the market through its Galaxy Unpacked event, which is usually held every August.
Chinese phone maker Honor also officially announced its participation in the smart ring market. The company’s CEO George Zhao confirmed in an interview with CNBC during MWC that they too are developing a smart ring.
He said that this new product will have health-tracking features and be able to connect with smartwatches. “This hardware capability will work together with AI-enabled apps (and) can help you make the professional training course tailored for you because they studied your habits and health data to give you professional suggestions,” the CEO told the U.S. news outlet.
Apple, which dominates the smartphone market, is drawing attention to whether it will enter the smart ring market. After initially filing a patent for smart rings in 2015, Apple has continued registering patents for related technologies, but has yet to offer any official response on this device. The patents Apple has filed so far have included ideas for incorporating biometric recognition, health sensors, gestures and voice commands.
News outlets specializing in Apple news, such as 9to5Mac, have reported that Apple has been researching the idea of a ring that can be controlled by gestures and voice commands, allowing users to control other devices with finger movements and collect health data, suggesting the possibility of launching its own smart ring.