Smart rings have solidified their place in the wearable tech market with the likes of Oura and Samsung leading the way, but where is Apple’s smart ring?
It’s a question on many lips and one that’s not easy to answer but there are various hints and rumours that give us a picture of what’s going on.
Even the existence of the Samsung Galaxy Ring means there’s a good chance Apple will launch a rival eventually.
However, when will that be and what will the Apple Ring, or iRing perhaps, be 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 as by many accounts, Apple has been looking into smart ring technology for many years. The firm even sent a survey to Apple Watch users asking how many also used a smart ring.
It seemed that 2024 could be the year for the first-generation model to arrive – ETNews certainly thought so saying it was ‘imminent’ – but there’s bad news.
According to Mark Gurman, a respected Apple insider for Bloomberg, Apple isn’t launching a smart ring any time soon.
“Apple isn’t actively developing a ring and has no plans to launch one,” says Gurman in the subscriber-only section of his 6 October 2024 Power On newsletter.
He added it “would detract from 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 correct, we may not even see it launch in 2025 but of course, plans can change. It seems there may have to be some shift in the market and Apple Watch sales for the fruit-flavoured company to consider it a good move.
For now, the Apple Watch Series 10 is the newest wearable from Apple.
How much will the Apple smart ring cost?
This is anyone’s guess at this point, but we can look at two key rivals to give us a solid enough ballpark estimate.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is £399/$399 regardless of which colour or size you choose.
Oura’s new Ring 4 is £349-499 (or the same in dollars) depending on which colour/finish you want.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s was around the £400/$400 mark or higher, 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 an annual fee) to access all features.
Apple has Fitness Plus at £9.99/$9.99 per month for Apple Watch users so I’d wager that this will be the same or a very similar option on the Apple smart ring.
What features will the Apple smart ring have?
There’s a selection of features we can expect the smart ring to have, considering they need to do a certain amount to warrant 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 with which to track your daily activity. This is highly likely to include steps, heart rate and sleep at the very least considering it’s what all current models can do.
The kind of core tracking you expect from an Apple Watch but in ring form seems reasonable and you’ll get all this data from an app since there’s no screen – though that’s not out of the question.
You should expect things like ECG to be absent though. The question is whether Apple adds features like GPS and NFC for Apple Pay which rivals don’t offer. This would certainly help it stand out from the crowd if there’s space for them.
Apple has filed patents for smart ring devices over the years with one back in 2020 suggesting it could control other devices when aimed at them (via AppleInsider). It could even have a tiny screen.
Another patent in 2023 (via PatentlyApple) showed a smart ring with an innovative rotating outer band which could be used for things like scrolling through a webpage on your iPhone. The device also appeared to have storage, a touch sensor and haptic feedback.
Whether any of this turns up in the final product is unclear, though patents can generally be taken with a pinch of salt. Tech companies often experiment with ideas but never release them.
When (or if) Apple does finally launch a smart ring, it will be very interesting to see how it fares in the market alongside the likes of Oura and Samsung as well as how Apple fans react.
We could be in for a long wait, but we’ll keep this page updated with any developments worth telling you about.
