Adam Kos At least revealing the upcoming product seems like an interesting strategy in the competitive battle. Although Apple curses the leaks, they are the ones that build the appropriate hype around the yet-to-be-presented product. Samsung may have hit the nail on the head with the preview of its Galaxy Ring.
In mid-January, when Samsung presented the Galaxy S24 series of smartphones, it also showed the Galaxy Ring, the company's first smart ring, at the end of the event. He didn't mention it again, even so it caused a clear pressure. The Oura company soon commented on this demonstration, saying that they are not afraid of the competition. But we all know what it will be like when a big player enters the market with these wearables, especially since Oura, which has been in the market since 2015, has sold only one million of its rings by 2022.
But this pressure reportedly affected Apple as well. Currently, the fairly reliable Asian portal ETNews reports on how Apple has accelerated all work on its smart ring in order to release it as soon as possible. However, there has been speculation about the so-called Apple Ring for over 10 years, thanks to approved patents. So it could be that it is not a question of if, but when. Samsung plans to introduce the Galaxy Ring this year, probably in the summer alongside the Galaxy fold6 and Z Flip6 and the Galaxy Watch7. Apple will certainly not have time to be the first among the big players. But that wasn't even the case with the headset, and quite possibly with the Apple Vision Pro he set off another revolution.
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There are more uses here
The wearables market is very popular. It includes not only smart watches and fitness bracelets, but also TWS headphones, headsets or just smart rings. Of course, the last one mentioned must have its justification, when Oura shows that it really makes sense. But why should Apple try to introduce a similar product when it has an Apple Watch? There are several reasons.
First of all, there are all the health functions, such as heart rate monitoring, EKG measurement, body temperature measurement and sleep monitoring, which will certainly be more convenient (and more accurate?) with a ring than with a watch on the wrist. Then there are contactless payments. So primarily it would actually be just a "discreet Apple Watch", but secondarily there is even more on offer.
With Apple Vision Pro, you control gestures when Apple does not offer any controllers for this spatial computer, such as Meta. But the Apple Ring could better capture your gestures and thus bring better orientation to this AR/VR space. And it wouldn't be Apple if its product didn't have some interesting killer function.
On the other hand, it is true that Apple gets a large number of patents approved, when many of them will not be implemented. He is also unlikely to be influenced by anyone, as he has clear procedures for everything and usually does not want to rush anything. But the report mentions that we could wait until next year.
We can only hope that the earlier introduction of the Galaxy Ring will not have the effect that the introduction of the Apple Vision Pro had. Even Samsung was working on its headset, but when it saw what Apple showed, it stopped everything, saying that it had to start from scratch (why). But if Samsung showed something truly unique, Apple might eventually prefer to ditch its ring.
