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Samsung reportedly working on a 'Galaxy Ring'
Wearable devices can come in different forms, not just smartwatches, though those are the most common ones. Smart rings, manufactured mostly by fitness companies and tech startups, are one form that's growing in popularity. It now looks like Samsung is entering the market.
According to reports from the Korean-based site The Elec, Samsung is using circuit boards from Japanese electronics manufacturer Meiko to develop a Galaxy Ring. But there is no word on when the product will launch or what features it will boast.
Also: The best fitness rings right now
Samsung is rumored to be working on XR glasses called "Galaxy Glasses" after filing for a trademark of the name in February, spurring talk that the company could come out with a new VR/AR headset to rival the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 2 within the year.
But only days later, Samsung also filed for a trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a "Samsung Galaxy Ring," which is described as "intended to cover the categories of wearable smart devices in the nature of a smart ring for tracking, measuring, monitoring, and uploading health, fitness and sleep-related information."
Also: The best Samsung phones you can buy (with every budget in mind)
Smart rings haven't been as popular as smartwatches in large part due to how challenging of a device they are to manufacture. Rings are smaller products, which results in smaller sensors than would go on a smartwatch. They also go around a person's finger, which doesn't offer the sensor measurable blood flow as strongly as the wrist, which can result in errors.
Companies have struggled for years to make a device accurate enough, at a price affordable enough to entice consumers, and in a format small enough to fit around a person's finger. How Samsung rises to the challenge remains to be seen -- and how soon we'll see that is also unknown.