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Samsung plans to revolutionize everyday wellness with its Galaxy Ring. Slated to arrive later this year, the wearable offers a wide range of sensors and health features in a small, lightweight product. This allows for comfortable wear for a long time, enabling continuous health monitoring. But if you planned to pair the smart ring with your iPhone, you might be out of luck. The Korean firm intends to support Android devices only.
Galaxy Ring may not be compatible with iPhones
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Ring at MWC 2024, which concluded yesterday. The company didn’t share detailed specs and features but suggested that the smart ring will be a comprehensive health monitoring device. It is as capable as a Galaxy Watch in activity tracking and monitoring your everyday wellness. You could get the same level of health and fitness insights with either device.
However, if you wear both, they can work in tandem with one another to deliver more accurate data. “We know that, for example, the performance of sleep staging (the classification of five different sleep stages) goes up when both devices are worn,” said Dr. Hon Pak, Samsung’s VP & Head of Digital Health. The company still doesn’t see the Galaxy Ring as a companion for the Galaxy Watch. It is more about giving customers choices.
People who don’t like wearing watches to sleep can rely on the ring for health monitoring. By pairing it with a Galaxy Watch, they can switch between the two according to their convenience or wear both for more accurate results. Since Samsung’s watches aren’t compatible with iPhones, the same will seemingly apply to the Galaxy Ring. You must use it with an Android phone that supports the Samsung health app.
The ring is extremely lightweight and boasts an excellent battery life
To ensure a proper fit for people of all sizes, Samsung plans to release the Galaxy Ring in nine sizes. Bigger units will give you a bigger battery and runtime on a single charge. According to a CNET report, the smallest model will pack a 14.5mAh battery. The battery capacity will increase incrementally with the size of the ring. If you pick up the biggest model, you get a 21.5mAh battery. That’s almost 50% more battery juice on the biggest Galaxy Ring.
Since the rest of the specs and sensors are expected to remain unchanged, the battery life on the latter should be notably longer than the former. Samsung’s mobile business head, TM Roh, recently claimed that the Galaxy Ring will boast a battery life of five to nine days, depending on usage. This means you will have to charge the ring up to five times less often than a Galaxy Watch, depending on usage.
Of course, the bigger Galaxy Ring will be heavier too. But Samsung has done incredibly well to make it lightweight. The upcoming smart ring reportedly weighs between 2.3 and 2.9 grams. Even the biggest unit is lighter than the smallest Oura Ring, which weighs between 4 and 6 grams, depending on the size. We should get to know more about the Galaxy Ring, including its price, in the build-up to its launch.