- The Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 is in danger, as Samsung is reportedly reassessing its strategy
- It won’t make an appearance at next year’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked presentation
- This is reportedly in response to poor sales and a legal spat with Oura
When it first launched in 2024, there was a lot of excitement around the Samsung Galaxy Ring. It was a bold move by Samsung that seemed to be paying off, selling out in pre-order in some regions. It also reviewed very well – we’ve named it our best smart ring, for example.
However, things have seemingly stalled. English-speaking Korean website Koreajoongang Daily reports that ‘industry sources’ says the Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 will not appear at next year’s Unpacked presentation, which typically takes place around January/February time.
In fact, there may not be a Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 at all, as strong preorder interest eventually translated into what the site refers to as ‘underwhelming sales’. Last year, Sammobile reported that the demand was so high for Galaxy Rings that Samsung increased production, adding an extra 600,000 units to ship globally.
Now it seems that if the above reports are true (and it’s worth taking these unsubstantiated rumors with a hefty pinch of salt) Samsung overestimated mainstream demand, with the pre-order rush perhaps limited to Samsung power users and early adopters.
Oura’s legal dispute
Samsung’s main competition in this area is Oura, creator of the Oura Ring 4. Oura has been producing smart rings since, well, before they were cool, and now with challengers popping up in the space, it’s keen to establish itself as the first and only option.
Oura’s filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission against Samsung, Reebok and other smart ring makers over patent violations, following successful legal action against Ringconn and Circular.
It’s not surprising Samsung might want to wait for the outcome of the legal dispute before launching a product internationally that may be in violation of copyright law. Holding off might save Samsung money and avoid the need to backtrack or recall products down the line.
The state of smart rings
As we move into 2026, the smart ring category is in an odd place: despite multiple high-profile releases in 2024, and continuing software innovation from the likes of Oura (we even named the Oura Ring 4 our health and fitness device of the year) smart rings don’t show too many signs of hardware innovation.
These products are essentially a few sensors attached to a rechargeable battery in a pretty case, and that’s basically the same for most smart rings right now. Ringconn and Circular can no longer trade in the US thanks to Oura’s legal action, and if Oura has its way, there will be no Galaxy Ring 2 either.
The one that bucks the trend is the small-batch Pebble Index 01, which is a completely different use case: a microphone and a small button designed as an external memory bank and voice assistant, rather than a health tracker.
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The best smart rings for all budgets
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matt.evans@futurenet.com (Matt Evans)
