Smart rings have cemented their place in the wearable technology market, with companies like Oura and Samsung leading the way, but where is Apple’s smart ring?
It’s a question that comes up on everyone’s lips and is not easy to answer, but various clues and rumors give us an idea of what is going on.
Even the existence of the Samsung Galaxy Ring means there’s a good chance Apple will eventually launch a rival.
However, when will this happen and what will the Apple Ring, or perhaps iRing, look like? Here’s what we know so far…
When will the Apple smart ring be released?
This is one of the hardest questions to answer because, by many accounts, Apple has been studying smart ring technology for many years. The company even sent a survey to Apple Watch users asking how many were also using a smart ring.
It looked like 2024 could be the year the first-generation model arrived – ETNews certainly thought so when saying it was “imminent” – but there’s some bad news.
According to Mark Gurman, a respected Apple insider for Bloomberg, Apple won’t be launching a smart ring anytime soon.
“Apple is not actively developing a Ring and has no plans to launch one,” Gurman says in the subscribers-only section of its October 6, 2024 Power On newsletter.
He added that it would “hurt the Apple Watch… Apple has no reason to compete with a product that still has room to grow and is the envy of the fitness industry.”
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
If this is accurate, we may not even see it launch in 2025, but of course plans can change. It seems like it may take a change in the market and Apple Watch sales for the fruit-flavored company to consider this a good move.
For now, the Apple Watch Series 10 is Apple’s latest wearable.
How much will the Apple smart ring cost?
It’s a conundrum at this point, but we can look at two key rivals to give us a pretty solid estimate.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring costs £399/$399, no matter what color or size you choose.
Oura’s new Ring 4 costs between £349 and £499 (or the same price in dollars) depending on the color/finish you want.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s was around £400/$400 or more, going by devices like the Apple Watch Ultra 2 which is more expensive than Samsung’s rival.
Oura also charges a monthly membership fee of £5.99/$5.99 per month (or annual fee) to access all features.
Apple offers Fitness Plus for £9.99/$9.99 per month for Apple Watch users, so I’d bet it will be the same or a very similar option on the Apple Smart Ring.
Take a look at what a Google Pixel Ring could look like.
What features will the Apple Smart Ring have?
There are a selection of features we can expect, given that they have to make a certain amount to justify the title.
It’s almost a given that Apple’s Ring will connect to your iPhone or other Apple devices via Bluetooth and contain various sensors to track your daily activity. It’s likely that this will include steps, heart rate, and sleep at a minimum, since that’s what all current models can do.
The basic sort of tracking you’d expect from an Apple Watch, but in ring form, seems reasonable and you’ll get all that data from an app since there’s no screen – although it’s not out of the question.
You should, however, expect things like the ECG to be absent. The question is whether Apple adds features like GPS and NFC for Apple Pay that its competitors don’t offer. This would definitely help it stand out from the crowd if there is room for them.
Apple has filed patents for smart ring devices over the years, including one in 2020 suggesting it could control other devices when aimed at them (via AppleInsider). It might even have a small screen.
Another patent in 2023 (via PatentlyApple) showed a smart ring with an innovative rotating outer band that could be used for things like scrolling a web page on your iPhone. The device also appears to have storage, a touch sensor, and haptic feedback.
It’s unclear whether any of this will make it into the final product, although patents can generally be taken with a grain of salt. Tech companies often experiment with ideas but never release them.
When (or if) Apple finally releases a smart ring, it will be very interesting to see how it performs in the market alongside Oura and Samsung as well as how Apple fans will react.
We could wait a long time, but we will keep this page updated with any developments that are worth bringing to your attention.
