This week, Samsung came out with a shiny new toy and Apple users might be feeling some jealousy. The Galaxy Ring is here and you might be wondering when is Apple coming out with a smart ring? Well, I don't think Apple will make one. I'm not being negative. This is a reality check. And before you come at me, yes, Apple has filed several patents for what looks like smart ring technology. Apple research is also sorts of things but patents are not real products. I like the idea of smart rings. Yes, I even wear one but I realize that smart rings are a problematic product for Apple, at least with how the technology stands today because to me, it represents this movement that goes against Apple's current product goals. So let's get into it. Here are the reasons why Apple won't be making a smart. At least not anytime soon. I'm Bridget Carey and this is one more thing. Samsung made headlines this week with the launch of the Galaxy Ring. The starting cost is a whopping $400. I can get the latest Apple watch now for $300 on sale and it could do way more than any ring. Even Samsung's brand new Galaxy Watch seven is cheaper and it does a lot more. But if you get past the watering price tag, the Galaxy Ring does boast more tricks than other smart rings. It tracks several metrics for sleep quality. It helps track your menstrual cycle with temperature monitoring. It can send a notification to your phone if you have an unusually high or low heart rate and it has auto workout detection. So it can tell if you're walking or running and double pinching list, you dismiss an alarm on your phone or take a photo. Sounds like all the things you can do with a modern smartwatch, right? But compared to a watch, the ring sensors are just a little less good. You're not getting the higher level data that you get with a watch that has an ECG or a watch that can check for a FB. The ring knows if you're active but it doesn't have a GPS. A ring can tell you how long you sleep. But Samsung's latest watch can monitor for signs of sleep apnea. You get the point. So why even consider a ring because it solves a problem that was created by our smartphone and smartwatch culture. A ring is a way to use tech to get data about your health without being tied to a device that's always on. Always connected, always pinging you with notifications and frankly sometimes complicated to figure out. Did you ever try tracking sleep with an Apple watch? You need to have all these set turned on in your iphone, but a ring just does. It automatically. The idea of a smart ring sounds nice because it means you don't need to be bothered with a smart watch. So it's a luxury health product that's not as good as a watch if you don't want to wear a watch, this is not Apple's business objective and it becomes a waste of time for Apple to work on a ring. Let's quickly hit a few reasons why. For starters look at the aura ring. It's probably the most popular smart ring model today and it was unique for a while because it would take all your data and give you a few different health scores. But the concept of the health score isn't special anymore. Samsung is using that same basic idea in the Galaxy ring. It has an energy score as a way to measure your overall health and Apple is putting its own twist on that into the net watch update. The vitals app is a way to measure your overall health metrics day by day. It also is going to measure intensity and duration of workouts with training load scores and all of that is done with data from Apple watch sensors, sensors that can get more robust data than we can pull from a ring which brings me to the next point. Apple markets its products as a way to help you live a healthier life. But more than that, the Apple watch is promoted as something that can save your life. It's because of all that detailed data from the sensors. A ring won't be able to make the same claim reports from Bloomberg say Apple wants to lead the industry with figuring out how to use the watch to track glucose and blood pressure through your wrist. Things that are incredibly difficult to do accurately in this small block. Now, Apple can make a bigger difference in health care if it can come up with these new sensors in a watch before it starts trying to cram subpar sensors for a ring finger. Now there is an argument to be made that data from a ring can also supplement data from a watch. Like more data means better data. But then that's just Apple admitting that its watch alone isn't good enough. That's not the message Apple wants to send with Apple. You also have to think beyond the hardware services are a growing part of Apple's business. And if you ever used Apple Fitness plus that's the subscription workout program, then you know how big of a role the watch plays in what makes fitness plus special. You start a workout on your screen and right next to the trainer, it displays your real time health metrics taken by the watch. I don't have to click anything on the watch. It just all coordinates and syncs automatically. Apple needs the power of the watch to sell you on what makes fitness plus so unique. It's the kind of thing that gets customers hooked and staying subscribed and it keeps you wanting a watch instead of giving it all up for a lesser ring. We see talk of how a smart ring can be turned into a controller. It's a concept featured in Apple's patents. Maybe you would twist your ring certain ways or tap on it to control devices or control music. But a bigger mission for Apple right now is getting Apple Intelligence and the A I smart Siri to successfully launch the idea of an Apple A I means that you should be able to control more things with very simple commands to Siri. We can currently do double tap on an Apple watch to control a song. But if Apple has to sell us on how a ring is a better way to control our music or smart home devices, then I would see that as Apple failing on its big A I promises to have Siri make everything work smoothly. Materials are another headache for Apple. The company is on a mission to be 100% carbon neutral in six years. So if Apple adds a ring to the portfolio, it needs to figure out the math on how to gather all the materials sustainably and to make it easy to recycle. Not to mention Apple has to account for all the humans. We need to have ring size tests mailed to them are humans who want to return their units because they feel it's too snug or too loose or they just don't like how it feels during a workout. It is simpler for Apple to save its resources and keep focused on making a better watch that can do it all. There's one battle, the ring always wins and that's battery life. The Galaxy Ring lasts about a week. My EV is cheaper at $269 but it does last about four days before needing a recharge. It's sold out on Evie's website. It's another signal that people are hungry for something different even if it doesn't have as much data as a watch. When the day comes, that a sensor in a ring can be as good as a sensor and a watch. Then maybe Apple will consider jumping into the screen free category for now, I see a ring as a symbol of wanting something less intrusive than a smartwatch. It's a call back to a time before we had to be so connected. It's the new tech luxury people are paying a premium to say they don't need a watch even though the best tech right now is still a watch. I want to hear from you and the comments. Are you wishing for an Apple ring? Do you think Apple would be foolish not to make one. I mean, just a few months ago, I did a whole video about why an Apple watch has potential to be cool. And look at me now. I just don't think it will happen. But when you consider that stores are selling refurbished ipods from 20 years ago, maybe Apple should lean into simpler tech. But that's one more thing for another episode. Thanks for watching. I'll catch you next Friday.
