The Samsung Galaxy Ring was announced back in January and February, but will be fully launched on July 10th. That’s when we’ll hear all the details about it. Those details should include a price, and that could be on the high side, if we’re to believe a new rumor.
This leak comes from Dealabs (through WinFuture) and the suggestion is that we’re looking at a price of €449 in France. Now, Samsung won’t be using a direct currency conversion for its pricing, but that works out at a hefty $485 / £380 / AU$720 at today’s exchange rates.
For comparison, the 3rd-gen Oura Ring starts at $299 / £299 (that’s around AU$445 and costs €399), though it’s worth noting there are also significantly more expensive variants. So the Galaxy Ring could be a lot more expensive, and if it is, Samsung will have to do a good job selling it.
Previous pricing leaks suggested that the Samsung Galaxy Ring could come in at the $300-350 range, which would be more reasonable. At that kind of price, Samsung’s smart ring would be comparable to the cheaper options on our best smartwatches list.
Subs and sequels
Another thing we’ve heard about the Galaxy Ring is that it might come with an optional subscription plan. This is something that companies like Oura, Fitbit, and Apple are already doing, and would likely involve additional health tracking and analytics features.
There’s no mention of a subscription plan in this Dealabs leak, though we know Samsung will be pushing health and fitness features on this wearable. After all, it can’t exactly stream your music, answer calls, or show you incoming messages.
The next Galaxy Ring, however, could be more versatile – 91mobiles Samsung Inc. has discovered a patent for a smart ring with a display, presumably to show notifications and fitness stats. It also appears to be a bit more elongated than the model that is set to launch soon.
It should be noted that patents are not a guarantee of a future product, but rather a hint at what a company is exploring in terms of its technology. We’ll focus on the first Galaxy Ring for now, before we turn to a possible successor with a screen (and of course, the ultimate test of any device with a screen is whether or not it will run Doom).
