Don’t Hold Your Breath for an Apple Smart Ring
Credit: Apple Stack / X
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While the rumor mill has been abuzz in recent months with speculation on a mythic “Apple Ring,” these reports may contain more smoke than fire.
Over the years, there’s been ample evidence to suggest that Apple was exploring the idea of a smart ring. The company first filed a patent on the concept in 2015, followed by another in 2019. Still, Apple patents a great many things that never see the light of day, and with no solid reports of a product in development, these became curious blips on the Apple landscape that were quickly forgotten.
The patents also seemed overly optimistic by the standards of those days, covering features that would be difficult to achieve even today, such as voice control and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Nevertheless, rumors of an Apple Ring began heating up earlier this year, no doubt inspired by Samsung’s announcement of its new Galaxy Ring. Many pundits believed that Apple would need to follow suit now that its biggest rival had entered the market, and some even suggested an Apple Ring was “imminent.”
However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman was considerably more circumspect. By late February, as speculation from supply chain insiders was reaching a fever pitch, Gurman threw some cold water on the rumors with a report from his sources that Apple was merely pondering the idea of creating a smart ring and didn’t even have a product concept.
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
While the Oura Ring and Galaxy Ring have certainly brought the notion of smart rings into the mainstream, there’s no reason to assume that Apple is about to jump into the fray. Apple has never pursued new products merely to keep up with its competitors. Instead, it takes the time to try and do things right. We saw the same speculation about an “iPhone Flip” in the months following the release of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold. However, while Apple is still reportedly exploring the idea of a foldable iPhone, there have been years of rumors that never came to fruition. According to past predictions from some analysts, Apple should have sold 20 million folding iPhones by now.
It’s a safe bet that the “Apple Ring” fits into the same category, and this week Gurman confirmed in his Power On newsletter that it’s likely even farther off than the so-called “iPhone Flip.”
Apple isn’t actively developing a ring and has no plans to launch one.Mark Gurman
That’s supposedly because Apple doesn’t yet see the point in creating a device that would “detract from the Apple Watch, which Gurman describes as “the envy of the fitness-tracking industry,” and has plenty of room to grow.
As Gurman says, Apple doesn’t want to “cannibalize” the Apple Watch. However, it’s likely less about detracting from the market share, as Apple has never hesitated to cannibalize its own products — a sale is a sale, after all — but diluting the company’s focus.
Apple has always run lean and mean when it comes to talent. For years, it’s been working on moonshot projects related to the Apple Watch, such as creating a reliable, noninvasive blood glucose monitor — often called the “holy grail” of health monitoring. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also frequently stated that he wants health features to be “Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind.”
From that perspective, it’s easy to see how advanced Apple Watch sensors that help people live healthier lives, from sleep apnea detection today to blood sugar monitoring down the road, are more of a priority for Apple than a smart ring that would remain perpetually behind the curve, limited to more basic sensors until the technology can catch up.
That’s not to say that Apple isn’t still pondering the idea of a smart ring. Reports speculating that the project has been cancelled are premature. For one thing, you can’t cancel something that was never a project in the first place; as far as we know, Apple has merely filed some patents and tossed around some ideas. That’s a far cry from setting up a team of hundreds of engineers in an ill-fated decade-plus attempt to build an autonomous car.
For another, all Gurman said is that “Apple isn’t actively developing a ring and has no plans to launch one.” However, all that statement really means is that we won’t see an Apple Ring in the near future. Plans change, and it’s not like Apple has invested hundreds of millions of dollars and thrown in the towel. Apple will build a smart ring when it figures out how to do something that Oura and Samsung aren’t doing and when it can add value to the Apple Watch and Apple’s health ambitions. That day will undoubtedly come; it’s not just today.
[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.]
