Get All Access for $5/mo

Samsung's Newest Galaxy Gadget Aims 'To See How Productive You Can Be' The Galaxy Ring has sensors to track heart rate, respiratory rate, and physical and mental readiness.

By Sherin Shibu

Key Takeaways

  • Samsung’s latest wearable, the Galaxy Ring, is set to go on sale later this year.
  • This marks the company’s first step into smart rings, placing it against competitors like Oura.
  • Samsung put the ring on display for the first time on Monday.

Samsung's latest product isn't a phone or a smartwatch, it's even smaller. The company is diving into the quick-growing $125 million smart ring market.

Samsung put the Galaxy Ring on display for the first time on Monday in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress (MWC) and showcased what it can do — and how it differs from the company's Galaxy Watch smartwatch line.

Samsung Galaxy Ring. Credit: Samsung

At a roundtable at the event, Hon Pak, vice president of the digital health team at Samsung said the Galaxy Ring will have "a long battery life" without specifying any numbers and use Samsung's "leading sensor technology" to track sleep.

Related: You'll Never Achieve Work-Life Balance — and You Shouldn't, Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Says

The ring will read heart rate, respiratory rate, restlessness during sleep, and how long it takes a user to fall asleep after going to bed, and then sync that data to the Samsung Health app.

There is also fertility and menstrual cycle tracking, which expands upon Samsung's existing partnership with Natural Cycles for its smartwatches.

Users will also get a vitality score that "collects data about physical and mental readiness to see how productive you can be," Pak told CNBC.

Hon Pak, vice president of the digital health team at Samsung. Credit: Samsung

By entering the smart ring market, Samsung pits itself against industry leader Oura, which was founded over a decade ago. Oura has sold over 1 million smart rings as of March 2022 and has a $2.5 billion market valuation. The company sells just one product, the $299 Oura Ring, and includes features like automatic workout-tracking, which Samsung will not have on the Galaxy Ring at launch.

The Galaxy Ring is set to arrive "later this year" and sells itself on screenless simplicity. Pak stated that the ring doesn't necessarily replace the company's smartwatch line, but adds to it — users can wear both a Galaxy Watch and a Galaxy Ring at the same time for better sleep tracking or more health data.

Related: These Age-Old Monk Practices Can Help You Lead a More Focused, Productive and Creative Life

Samsung is also exploring noninvasive glucose monitoring and contactless payments with the Galaxy Ring, according to Pak. Artificial intelligence is also on the company's radar in the form of a possible AI coach that brings together medical records, physiological data, and wearable data for users.

"There's a digital assistant coach in the future because we think that's absolutely needed," Pak told CNBC.

An AI coach could bring added fees for customers; Pak disclosed to the outlet that Samsung could eventually consider adding a subscription wall to the Samsung Health app if it adds features like AI.

Sherin Shibu

Entrepreneur Staff

News Reporter

Sherin Shibu is a business news reporter at Entrepreneur.com. She previously worked for PCMag, Business Insider, The Messenger, and ZDNET as a reporter and copyeditor. Her areas of coverage encompass tech, business, strategy, finance, and even space. She is a Columbia University graduate.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Starting a Business

I Left the Corporate World to Start a Chicken Coop Business — Here Are 3 Valuable Lessons I Learned Along the Way

Board meetings were traded for barnyards as a thriving new venture hatched.

Business News

'Passing By Wide Margins': Elon Musk Celebrates His 'Guaranteed Win' of the Highest Pay Package in U.S. Corporate History

Musk's Tesla pay package is almost 140 times higher than the annual pay of other high-performing CEOs.

Business News

Joey Chestnut Is Going From Nathan's to Netflix for a Competition 15 Years in the Making

Chestnut was banned from this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest due to a "rival" contract. Now, he'll compete in a Netflix special instead.

Marketing

Are Your Business's Local Listings Accurate and Up-to-Date? Here Are the Consequences You Could Face If Not.

Why accurate local listings are crucial for business success — and how to avoid the pitfalls of outdated information.

Money & Finance

Day Traders Often Ignore This One Topic At Their Peril

Boring things — like taxes — can sometimes be highly profitable.

Growing a Business

He Immigrated to the U.S. and Got a Job at McDonald's — Then His Aversion to Being 'Too Comfortable' Led to a Fast-Growing Company That's Hard to Miss

Voyo Popovic launched his moving and storage company in 2018 — and he's been innovating in the industry ever since.