Samsung Galaxy Ring: Specs, Features, Release Date

Pack said the ring, which is equipped with sensors, will be able to provide readings on heart rate, breathing rate, the amount of movement done during sleep and the time it takes a person to fall asleep after being in bed.

He also said the ring will be able to give the wearer a “vitality score” that “collects physical and mental fitness data to see how productive you can be.”

All of this will be available through the Samsung Health app.

The ring is due to go on sale this year, but Pak did not give a timeline or price.

Pak also said the company is considering adding a feature that would allow the Galaxy Ring to make contactless payments, just like smartphones.

“We have a whole … team looking into this. But I think it clearly addresses a lot of different use cases for the ring outside of health, for sure,” Pak said.

The Samsung executive also said the company is working on non-invasive glucose monitoring as well as blood pressure measurement through its wearable devices.

“I think we have some ways to go,” Pack said of non-invasive glucose monitoring. Currently, people use devices that pierce the skin to check glucose levels. A non-invasive way to do this would be a huge step.

Samsung hopes the various devices will improve its positioning in healthcare, an area it has been working on for several years.

The company has its own smartphones and smartwatches. Galaxy Ring is the newest product category in healthcare. Samsung said the decision to launch a “smart ring” was dictated by customers.

“Our own customers have told us they want choice. I want the ability to have other forms of wearables to measure health,” Pak said. “And some want to wear the watch, some want to wear the watch and the ring and benefit from both. Some just want more simplicity.”

Pak confirmed that when the smartwatch and ring are worn together, users will be able to get different health information.

Samsung is not the first company to release smart rings. There are a handful of other players like Oura.

Previous generations of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, like the S7, have sensors that track things like heart rate. Users can place their finger on the sensor and it will give a reading. Samsung has removed these sensors from its phones, especially since it has smartwatches that offer these features.

However, Pak did not rule out the possibility of future smartphones having health sensors on them.

“Mobile devices are still very prevalent, and so I think there are reasons why we might want to put a sensor on a mobile device as opposed to putting it on a wearable device,” Pak said.

Pak discussed how artificial intelligence will play a role in Samsung’s health services. AI can help make sense of all the data these devices collect. And ultimately, Pak’s goal is to get AI to provide deeper insight into human health.

He said big language models, which are AI models trained on massive amounts of data and which underpin applications like chatbots, can help provide better insights.

“Imagine this big language model acting as my digital assistant as it looks at the context of my medical records, my physiological data, my engagement with a mobile device, the wearables during all of this… it starts to wear bigger insights and personalization capabilities,” Pak said.

“There will be a digital assistant coach in the future because we think it’s absolutely necessary,” the Samsung executive said.

Pak described a scenario where a digital assistant offers health advice in the right tone and context, saying “our ability to change our behavior becomes much greater.”

Bixby, Samsung’s digital assistant, could play a role, Pak said.

“So we’re exploring a variety of different ways that the human computer interface will change over time… And so we think Bixby with speech is a significant part of that option. But we don’t think that’s the only option. But Bixby potentially combined with large language models could be a phenomenal game changer. And we’re obviously having that conversation,” Pack said.

The executive also said the company is “considering” a subscription service for its Samsung Health app, but that the capabilities and insights it offers need to be improved before that happens. AI assistants can help.

“If you’re really going to make me pay for something, you better give me something that’s more end-to-end, that’s more comprehensive” in terms of health insights, Pack said.