The Samsung Galaxy Ring has been the subject of plenty of rumors and leaks in advance of its possible launch during Samsung Galaxy Unpacked in July. The latest leak reveals the likely price, along with rumors of a subscription plan that may be required if Galaxy Ring users want to use all the health-tracking features.
The news comes from Yogesh Brar, who says the Galaxy Ring will cost between $300 and $350 in the U.S. (or 35,000 rupees in India). Other global prices aren’t known yet, but you can check the exchange rate to figure out what it may cost in other markets.
Samsung Galaxy Ring as of now is priced at Rs 35k in India.
Pretty expensive piece of tech..
— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) May 22, 2024
Previous speculation about the Galaxy Ring was that it would be a more affordable alternative to the Oura Ring, which has generally dominated the smart ring market. The $300 to $350 price range puts it right in the same range as the $299 starting price for the Oura Ring, though quite a bit less than the $549 Rose Gold Horizon version. It also makes it more costly than the $269 Evie Ring, which, along with the $279 RingConn Smart Ring, may continue to be a more affordable alternative to Oura.
Unfortunately, this is quite a bit higher than many people were hoping for. If this price is accurate, the Samsung Galaxy Ring will cost almost as much as a full-fledged smartwatch like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic ($399). To make matters worse, it seems like Samsung may be considering a subscription plan similar to the Oura Ring, which costs $70 a year ($6 monthly) to access all its features.
The price isn’t confirmed yet, but it wouldn’t be unexpected. In an interview with CNBC, Hon Pak, Samsung vice president and head of the Digital Health Team, said that the company was “considering” a subscription for the Samsung Health app. Brar also told Android Authority that the rumored subscription could cost “under $10” per month.
The Samsung Health app is the same platform you interact with the Galaxy Watch through. It shows health- and fitness-tracking information, gives you access to watch faces, and lets you configure numerous settings and features. So far, Samsung hasn’t charged a subscription for any of its features.
Samsung could gate part of the Samsung Health app and its features behind a subscription for both the Galaxy Ring and the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7. It could also seek to implement AI features into both wearables, letting the app offer personalized insights into your health stats and personal coaching. There’s a lot of money to be had with wearable subscriptions for health tracking, so it wouldn’t surprise us if Samsung decided to head in this direction and potentially sought to make it more palatable by bundling the Ring and Galaxy Watch 7 under the same subscription plan.
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