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For now, the Apple Watch is the sole fitness and health tracker in Apple’s entire portfolio of products. The iPhone can track your steps and measure the time you slept depending on the screen wake-up times, but it’s inaccurate. Apple plans to change this soon, and they could launch another fitness and health wearable device.
The device is mostly a smart ring, similar to the Galaxy Ring that we saw a teaser of at the Galaxy Unpacked event in January 2024. We expect the Galaxy Ring to launch in the second half of 2024. There’s already one company dominating this business. Oura is the current leader in this wearable technology. We’ll have to wait and evaluate how Apple competes.
Apple has put a lot of effort into the smart healthcare space. Apple Watches can detect irregular heartbeats and warn you about potential heart disease. They have both crash detection and fall detection. If you don’t respond to the on-screen message, the watch can call emergency services and alert them to your location. This is life-saving. The Apple Watch also tracks your sleep quality and directs you on how you can improve it. The upcoming Apple Ring will mostly offer a similar feature set in a compact ring form factor.
Apple had plans to launch an electric car earlier, but they were scrapped after spending billions due to various unknown reasons. Apple has already launched its year-headline product, the Apple Vision Pro, and their AI efforts weren’t very successful either since Apple is reportedly in talks with Google to bring Gemini-powered AI features to iOS.
Things aren’t going well at the manufacturing side either since they’ve apparently scrapped plans to manufacture Micro LED displays in-house. Apple is also working on non-invasive Blood Glucose level monitoring, but it’s a long time away. As a result, Apple is speeding up research and efforts for its fitness and health ring.
Is the Apple Ring Coming Soon?
We’re unsure whether the Apple Ring is actively in the testing phase, is just an idea, or is going through the prototype phase. We know that Apple is speeding up efforts to release this Ring. We can think of it as a direct response to Samsung’s announcement of their fitness ring earlier this year. Apple will soon have to offer a competing product for its ecosystem.
A report from Bloomberg suggests that the Apple Ring is still only an idea. It’s still in the concept phase, and they’re planning to launch the Apple Ring as a lower-cost alternative to the more expensive Apple Watch. At a lower price, it’ll offer many features, like fitness and health tracking or sleep quality measurement.
Since we don’t know what stage this product is in, it might not launch till 2025 or 2026. Apple plans to launch new iPads this month, and we’ll have the WWDC event in June. We don’t expect the Apple Ring in 2024 since no concrete leaks suggest the same. A fair estimate would be around 2025 or 2026 once it’s perfected. If Samsung’s Ring sales take off with the Galaxy Ring this year, Apple might have to play catch up and launch its Ring faster.
We can rule out a 2024 launch since it’s nearly impossible to launch a product at a massive scale if it’s still in the production prototype stage.
Apple Ring Rumors and Leaks
If Apple wants the Ring to stand out, they can offer it in flashy colors. If not, they’ll give it an understated design and make it look like a generic jewelry ring. It will still have the Apple touch regarding design and build quality.
Especially for tracking sleep at night, many people are uncomfortable with wearing a watch. It’s more intrusive than a ring. It also requires power, so you cannot track your sleep if you want to charge your watch at night. The Ring will solve such problems.
The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Ring will apparently come with nine size options comparable to the current top competitor, the Oura ring.
It requires a lot of complex engineering to get the sensors right and ensure accuracy. They also have to pass several tests and get approval from health regulators, especially if they plan to track heart rate continuously. It requires a lot of accuracy if Apple plans to port over the emergency features to the Apple Ring.
Simply put, Apple will mostly release this as a screen-less alternative to the Apple Watch. It’ll possibly have some ecosystem features, like controlling your playback, controlling your home from the Home app, or increasing the volume. If the Apple Ring has similar fitness features, it’ll also track your steps and workouts, but since there’s no screen to view it on, you’ll need a companion app on your phone to view the statistics.
Integration with Vision Pro or Mac
A patent (via Apple Insider) depicts first-party hand detection features. The Apple Vision Pro uses cameras and sensors to detect your hand movements. However, sometimes, it’s not in the field of view, which can cause inconsistencies. The Ring could solve this if it accurately tracks movements in real time. It can also enhance the gaming experience and add haptics. The Ring will also help with using the Vision Pro in low light.
Alternatively, Apple could also add features that let you control your Mac with it. Controlling your desktop windows or volume is a welcome new feature. Apple might let us use the Apple Ring as an input device for our iPhone or iPad.
Battery life and expected Pricing
The Apple Ring will outlast the Apple Watch in terms of battery life. Smartwatches have screens and are much larger, and some of them have GPS as well. As a result, they consume a lot more battery. They also will have better and more sensors for fitness and health tracking. They’re a lot more sophisticated, with their UI accompanying them. The Apple Ring will mostly last multiple weeks, while the Apple Watch lasts a day or two at most.
The cheapest Apple Watch SE already offers all the basic fitness and health features, including sleep tracking and heart rate monitoring. It has the same ecosystem and a fairly powerful SOC. It also has a sharp AMOLED display, starting at just $249. We expect the Apple Ring to cost at least this much, or $299. Any more than this is impractical since smartwatches are a better proposition.
They, however, have different target audiences. The Apple Watch is better for more health metrics and accuracy; a screen lets you do much more. It has GPS; you can take calls, reply to texts, and more. None of this is possible with the Ring.
However, the Ring has advantages of its own. It’s better for sleep comfort, doesn’t need a constant tie to your phone, and will likely be more affordable. Apple has to price it competitively; we expect the same price as the Galaxy Ring. Oura currently leads this segment, with their Ring priced at 299$. It’s very well established, so Apple and Samsung have to do something better than this product.
