- The day of the Apple event has arrived, and we’re still looking out for mentions of Apple’s first smart ring
- Apple has been toying with the idea of developing a smart ring since as early as 2020, but its current status is unknown
- While we’re not expecting the Apple Ring to show up at the Apple event, it would be the biggest surprise of the day if it did
One of the biggest events in tech has arrived: the September Apple event, the company’s biggest of the year. Of course, the iPhone 17 series will be the star of the show, but it’s the lingering anticipation of new Apple Watches that makes this event all the more thrilling.
When it comes to wearables, Apple has nailed it with the smartwatch, and it’s at least contemplated making a smart ring – we know this due to patent filings and other leaks, which suggest it got fairly far along in the process. If Apple went ahead with the new form factor, it would face stiff competition with the best smart rings – namely the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
For the past few years, rumors regarding the state of Apple’s first smart ring have been floating around, and with just a few hours to go until the Apple event, a surprise appearance from the Apple Ring would be the ultimate mic drop. But just how far-fetched is it to expect a brand new category of wearable today?
The story so far
Apple has been exploring the idea of developing a smart ring for a few years now, having filed patents for a smart ring as early as 2020. In September 2024, Apple issued quite an unsubtle Apple Watch survey, asking existing Apple Watch users whether they would consider another wearable.
The hype was killed as no further updates followed, but one leaker resurrected our hope for the Apple Ring, sharing that development was still going ahead – as well as going further with ‘attempts to develop wearable devices in the form of bands and smart glasses’.
Many of these sorts of R&D projects never see the light of day, so we were fairly dismissive that these reports would mean anything much, until Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed Apple’s plans to axe its smart ring project out of concern it would snatch the attention from the popular Apple Watch, sharing that Apple has “no reason to cannibalize a product that still has room to grow and is the envy of the fitness-tracking industry”.
Will today’s Apple event be our first look?
To put it frankly, we don’t know, but it’s very unlikely. As it stands, it seems that plans for the development of Apple’s first smart ring did progress beyond experimentation, but have now been put on pause.
We wouldn’t totally rule out Apple’s venture into smart rings given the success of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Ring and the Oura Ring 4, but it’s still early days, and it’s ambitious to expect it to make an appearance during the Apple event today. But we’ll know for sure once the keynote takes off.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
