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Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Ring, marking the company’s first entry into a segment of the wearables market that few companies have dared to venture. Granted, smart rings are not entirely new and there are a few brands out there that already offer them. Having said that, Samsung is arguably the biggest company to ever produce one at this point. So the release of the Galaxy Ring is sure to be a big deal with consumers, and the wearables market as a whole.
Whether you’re new to the existence of the Galaxy Ring or someone who wants to learn more about it, there’s a lot to unpack with it. So, let’s unpack it. This post will serve as your guide to all the little details about what the Galaxy Ring is, how much it costs, and what it can do for you so you can decide if you want one or not. With that out of the way, let’s dive in and talk about the Galaxy Ring.
What is the Samsung Galaxy Ring?
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is a smart ring that is now part of Samsung’s Galaxy line of wearables. Alongside the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra, it can serve as a nice companion wearable to help you make the most of your health. Albeit in different ways than the smartwatches might.
Therein lies what separates the Galaxy Ring from its smartwatch compadres. It has a centralized focus on essentially just a few things without all the extra fluff that a smartwatch can offer. That’s not a bad thing of course, in fact, it’s a good thing if what the Galaxy Ring offers is exactly what you’re wanting.
When will the Galaxy Ring be available?
Samsung has already started pre-orders for the Galaxy Ring and you can pre-order it from Samsung directly from July 10 through July 23. The device will officially launch on July 24 so it’ll be available in just a few weeks.
That’s not much of a surprise given that Samsung tends to launch its new mobile and wearable devices a couple of weeks after their official announcements. And since the Galaxy Ring was announced on July 10, July 24 puts the launch two weeks away.
How much will the Galaxy Ring cost?
The Galaxy Ring will retail for $399, which might seem a little bit high for what it is. But it’s right in the middle of the flagship model of the Oura Ring and some other lesser-known options from other brands. It is also a Galaxy device so the price isn’t really too unexpected. You can pay the $399 upfront at Samsung’s website but Samsung also offers a couple of other options. In addition to the full price upfront, the Galaxy Ring can be financed or paid for in 4 $100 installments that you would make every two weeks.
So you’d have it paid off in two months if you went with this route. If you use the Samsung financing, it’s $16.67 a month for 24 months.
Are there trade-in offers available?
Samsung offers trade-in promotions for lots of its devices, specifically for its latest smartphones and smartwatches. There are no trade-in offers, however, for the Galaxy Ring.
The biggest reason for this is probably because this is the first Galaxy Ring. While you could argue that Samsung could allow trade-ins of other smart rings, it may simply be that the company doesn’t want to offer trade-ins until it can include its own devices in the promotion. Perhaps there will be trade-in offers for the next Galaxy Ring. Assuming Samsung continues wanting to make new ones.
Where will the ring be available?
Samsung’s Galaxy devices are generally available globally. This doesn’t mean the ring will be available everywhere. While it is likely to be available in a vast majority of markets where Samsung devices are sold, you’ll want to check on Samsung’s website if it’s a product you can buy in your region. It is available in the US. So for US readers, you’ll be able to buy one, and can already pre-order it.
Samsung unfortunately doesn’t appear to have a full list of where the device will be sold. A recent post on Reddit from one user states that it won’t be available in Switzerland before 2025. So this could be the case for other countries as well.
How many sizes of the Galaxy Ring are there?
Quite a few, actually. Samsung offers the Galaxy Ring in nine different sizes. You can get it as small as a size 5 or as large as a size 13. This makes it a pretty versatile device in terms of fit and it should mean that most people will be able to find a size that works for them. Of course, if you aren’t sure what your ring size is, Samsung can help with that. When you go to place an order for the Galaxy Ring on Samsung’s website, it offers free ring sizing kits so you can find out which size is best for you.
For people who don’t normally wear rings or just don’t know their ring size, we highly recommend getting one of these kits so you can figure that out before selecting a ring size. If you use one of these free kits, you’ll be able to try sample rings of every size to test things out. Samsung also recommends wearing the ring for about 24 hours to test the fit properly. Finger size can change throughout the day so wearing the samples for a 24-hour period should help you find the size that fits best.
Once you’ve found your size, you can click a link in the email that Samsung sends you upon placing the initial order to select the size and have the Galaxy Ring shipped out.
How many colors will there be?
Samsung is making the Galaxy Ring in just three colors. These include Titanium Gold, Titanium Silver, and Titanium Black. There is always a chance that Samsung will release additional colors of the Galaxy Ring in the future. But there’s been nothing from Samsung to suggest this would be the case and the company has not confirmed any such detail. However, Samsung has released additional colors for some of its products after their initial launch before.
We’re not saying anyone should get their hopes up, but there’s always the possibility until Samsung confirms otherwise.
What sorts of features does the Galaxy Ring have?
There won’t be nearly as many features as something like the Galaxy Watch 7 or Galaxy Watch Ultra, but there are still quite a few features of the Galaxy Ring and you might be surprised at all the things it’s capable of doing.
For starters, it tracks your sleep. This has the potential to be one of the most used features. Why you might ask? For the simple reason that wearing the ring to sleep for tracking purposes will be infinitely more comfortable than wearing your smartwatch to bed. As Samsung puts it, “Get personalized sleep insights with a sleep tracker that’s so comfortable, you won’t even notice it’s there.”
In addition to sleep tracking, the Galaxy Ring can also track your health and allow you to see insights about your health with the Samsung Health app. The ring can track your exercises too. You can turn on the ring’s auto workout detection feature so it begins tracking whenever you start walking or running. That being said, this only works with walking and running. The feature is also disabled by default. It must be turned on in order for it to start detecting these types of workouts automatically.
Additionally, the Galaxy Ring also supports Samsung’s new Energy Score feature. The Energy Score insights track data and you can use that score to improve how you’re feeling. This feature only works if you’re using a compatible Galaxy phone that has Galaxy AI though.
Is the Galaxy Ring water-resistant?
Yes. In fact, the Galaxy Ring is both water-resistant and scratch-resistant! It’s easy to knock things like rings and watches against stuff. And you likely don’t want to have to pull the ring off every time you want to rinse your hand under some water. God forbid you should accidentally spill some water on it. The good news is that you can be free of these worries because a little splash won’t hurt the ring. Nor should it easily scratch if it takes a knock or two against the countertop or anything else.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be careless with it. It’s still a piece of tech, and an expensive piece of tech at that. So you’ll want to avoid knocking it against things or getting it excessively wet if at all possible.
How good is the battery life?
While we haven’t tested this out for ourselves yet, Samsung has shed light on the expectancy so consumers know what they’re looking at. And it’s pretty good. The battery life will last for up to 7 days between charges. So you should be able to wear it for about a week before needing to juice it back up. That being said, there is one caveat.
The up to 7 days of battery life is for the ring in sizes 12 and 13 only. If you get the Galaxy Ring in any size between 5 and 11, then you can expect up to 6 days on a single charge. That’s still pretty good as it means you could pull it out of the charger on Monday morning, and not expect to have to toss it back in until Saturday night. Not bad, really.
Does the Galaxy Ring work with non-Samsung phones?
Unfortunately, no it does not. You will need a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to use the Galaxy Ring. This is a bit different from the Galaxy smartwatches, which will work with just about any Android phone and not just those from Samsung. It’s a bit of an odd move, but perhaps support will expand to other phones in the future. Knowing this, the Galaxy Ring will also not work with iOS. So if your main phone or your only phone is an iPhone, you cannot use the Galaxy Ring, unfortunately.
Which Samsung Galaxy phones are compatible?
Ok, so you have to have a Samsung Galaxy Phone to use the Galaxy Ring. It’s not the end of the world even if it does lock out a large portion of Android phone users. But which phones from Samsung support the ring?
Well, a lot of them really. Samsung says that any Galaxy phone that runs on Android 11 or later will support the Galaxy Ring. Many if not most of Samsung’s phones are beyond this point. So if you have a Galaxy phone from the last few years then you’re good to go. But if you want to use the Galaxy AI-related features, you’ll need at least a Galaxy S24 series device, or the newly announced Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Finger tattoos may interfere with the Galaxy Ring working properly
It might sound weird to think about, but if you have tattoos on your fingers, the Galaxy Ring may not work as intended. Samsung says that tattoo ink or moles can interfere with the Optical Bio-Signal sensor’s tracking capabilities. The key takeaway here should be that it could interfere with the tracking. Samsung isn’t flat-out saying it will, but that it is possible. To that end, Samsung recommends wearing the ring on another finger if the one you plan to wear the ring on has a tattoo or mole.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Ring?
The Galaxy Ring is a compelling new smart wearable device that is sure to attract plenty of attention. It’s also fairly comfortable and the battery life is pretty good. The price isn’t too bad either, if not a tad bit high. Based on these things alone the Galaxy Ring would be a good buy for lots of people. However, it’s a bit more nuanced than that.
If you don’t have a Galaxy smartphone, then the Galaxy Ring is not compatible with your device. So in this case, you shouldn’t buy one unless you’re planning to buy a compatible Galaxy phone along with it.
If you do have a Galaxy smartphone, then whether or not you should buy the Galaxy Ring will depend on a few different factors. Are you ok with the price? Do you want sleep-tracking features without having to wear a smartwatch? If you answered yes to either of these, then definitely consider getting a Galaxy Ring.