Apple Is Merely ‘Pondering’ a New Fitness Ring

A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has thrown a bucket of cold water on the spate of recent rumors that an Apple Ring could be just around the corner. However, Gurman adds that this and many other devices are still on the slate of things that we could see from Apple in the not-too-distant future.

Gurman’s comments in this week’s Power On newsletter come on the heels of a speculative report last week that an Apple Ring could be “imminent.” Although some industry sources have been reading the tea leaves from Apple’s patent portfolio and its supply chain to surmise that Apple is actively working on an “Apple Ring,” it seems that the concept hasn’t even made it onto the drawing board, much less reached anything near a product stage.

To be fair, there’s no shortage of ring-related patents filed by Apple. The company appears to have been considering the idea since at least 2015, and we’ve heard rumors that the notion was being explored internally as far back as 2007 when the iPhone had just been introduced and Steve Jobs was still solidly at the helm of the company.

Still, there’s a danger in assuming too much from Apple’s patents. The company files hundreds of patents on things that never appear just to make sure all of its bases are covered. We’ve also seen patents for necklaces and key rings, although we’ve never heard any meaningful rumors that Apple is working on either of those.

Rumors of an Apple Ring

If anything, these Apple Ring rumors gained new steam not because we saw any meaningful new information from Apple-related sources but instead seemingly as a result of Samsung teasing its new Galaxy Ring last month. Pundits assumed that Apple couldn’t be far behind if one of its biggest rivals was releasing something like this.

While it’s likely true that Apple is paying close attention to the market, Apple has never done things just because its competitors have. Apple takes time to do things right, and we far more often see Samsung copying Apple than the other way around, such as the flat edges on Samsung’s Galaxy S24 that make it feel much more like an iPhone and the shift of the Galaxy S24 Ultra to a titanium frame, complete with a set of titanium-themed colors.

However, Apple isn’t going to rush an Apple Ring to market just because Samsung is doing so. If anything, it will wait until its smart ring has something to differentiate it from the rest of the pack. According to Gurman, it remains little more than an idea — one with a few champions inside of Apple but nothing anywhere close to a product.

For now, the ring idea is just that — an idea. The company isn’t actively developing such a device, but there are certainly people within the walls of Apple’s campus promoting the concept. Mark Gurman

That’s not to say that an Apple Ring won’t ever happen. As others like Oura and now Samsung have proven, there’s a market for such a device, which can offer health and fitness tracking to those who aren’t fans of smartwatches.

The Apple Watch still has a large and untapped market, as evidenced by the iterative year-over-year improvements designed to draw in new customers rather than encouraging existing Apple Watch owners to upgrade. However, it’s also a much more limited market than the iPhone. Nearly everyone these days carries a smartphone; not everybody wears a watch.

Wristwatches are as much fashion statements as they are useful accessories, and as Gurman points out, some folks like traditional wristwatches. Others “dread the idea of having another device that needs nightly charging.”

Simply put, some people will never buy an Apple Watch, no matter what it does. It’s just not for them. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t want the benefits of health and fitness tracking integrated with their iPhones. That’s where an Apple Ring would come in. It could monitor heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and calories burned without the extra bells and whistles that some find superfluous.

While there’s no guarantee that an Apple Ring will ever see the light of day, the idea of a lower-cost wearable is appealing to Apple as it tries to bolster its wearables revenue. Such a ring would undoubtedly be tied into Apple’s Health and Fitness apps and sold as an iPhone accessory rather than a standalone device. Gurman suggests Apple could “court a new type of customer” with a fitness ring, encourage more folks to stay within the Apple ecosystem, and possibly even find a way to monetize it through a subscription.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]