2024 In Wearables: The Year Of The Smart Ring

When you opportunity “wearables,” group mostly deliberation of smartwatches. But 2024 was a comparatively quiet twelvemonth for smartwatches, during which iterative updates reigned supreme. That happens successful a maturing category. In reside for polished products, you suffer retired connected nan weird frenetic powerfulness — and sometimes ludicrously bad ideas — recovered erstwhile group are trying to fig retired really to make a nascent gadget people work. Thankfully, it seems that powerfulness is starting to bubble up pinch smart rings.

Smart rings are not new, but successful 2024, location was a benignant of renaissance for nan category. I had an inkling that mightiness beryllium nan suit backmost successful January, erstwhile respective smart rings littered nan CES show floor. And past Samsung kicked nan doorway wide unfastened successful February by announcing nan long-rumored Galaxy Ring. Samsung is simply a awesome subordinate successful nan smartwatch space. For them to branch retired into an wholly caller wearable category? That’s big. It propels what’s frankincense acold been a niche style facet into nan mainstream.

This newer harvest of smart rings — of which I tested respective — is breathtaking because location are immoderate funky ideas successful nan mix. The Galaxy Ring, for instance, tin activity successful tandem pinch Samsung’s Galaxy Watches to optimize artillery life and sensor accuracy. When paired pinch a Z Fold 6 aliases a Z Flip 6, it tin admit a pinching mobility to powerfulness nan phone’s camera. A information of maine hates that this tin beryllium viewed arsenic a measurement to fastener Samsung users into its ecosystem, but you personification to admit: these are not usage cases we’ve seen from smart rings yet. 

It’s not conscionable Samsung that is coming up pinch innovations. I perfectly didn’t bask my clip pinch nan Circular Slim, but I’ll springiness nan institution successful installments for reasoning big. That ringing lets you group silent haptic alarms and effort an in-app AI chatbot. Movano’s Evie Ring too caught my oculus for incorporating a unsocial open-gap creation while ambitiously pursuing FDA clearance for its metrics. Even Casio is getting successful connected nan nosy pinch its return connected a much retro low-tech smart ring. 

It’s peculiarly refreshing to spot caller ideas erstwhile you spot that Oura has beautiful overmuch dominated this abstraction for nan past decade. Oura chiefly focuses connected slumber hunt and recovery. (It’s very bully astatine it, too.) That intends that, up until recently, we’ve only really thought of smart rings arsenic wellness trackers. Plus, if this past twelvemonth is immoderate indication, title is bully for Oura. The institution has been launching caller features astatine a dependable clip and exploring caller integrations pinch continuous glucose monitors, and it conscionable released a fourth-gen ring. 

Smart rings aren’t going to beryllium connected each digit successful 2025. They’re expensive, and erstwhile compared to likewise priced smartwatches, they don’t do alternatively arsenic much. They’re too challenging to make precisely because they’re truthful mini — and require moreover smaller components. And let’s not hide fit. Watch straps group easy to different sized wrists. With smart rings, nan shaper has to make 10–12 different sizes to encompass a overmuch wider scope of digit sizes — arsenic bully arsenic narration for seasonal swelling. Any measurement you information it, smart rings are trickier to get correct than smartwatches aliases fittingness bands. 

For each these reasons, I’m not judge really smart rings will fare successful nan twelvemonth ahead. We don’t yet cognize really Samsung’s Galaxy Ring is doing successful position of sales. But if it does well, peculiarly arsenic an accessory to different gadgets, you tin liking it’ll pique nan liking of Google and Apple. (Even though Oura CEO Tom Hale is adamant that Apple won’t dip its toes into nan smart ringing space. Never mind each those rumors.) It’s too difficult to show really committed Samsung is to nan Galaxy Ring if it doesn’t instantly succeed. 

What I do cognize is that, during my summertime of wearing six smart rings, I fielded a ton of questions from funny friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances. Some of them were conscionable sick of smartwatches and wanted to return to a bully ol’ Casio. Others wanted point beautiful and discreet. A less were highly into sleepmaxxing — a viral inclination wherever group effort to optimize their slumber worth — and frankincense dense invested successful point comfortable and long-lasting to measurement their sleep. 

The liking is there. The mobility is whether this renaissance will proceed aliases we’ll spell backmost to Oura being nan only crippled successful town.