Samsung made a buzzworthy "one more" announcement at Galaxy Unpacked 2024, officially teasing the long-rumored Galaxy Ring. While the company gave few details about this health wearable (it is not even clear if it will appear this year), there is already curiosity about how it will compare to devices like the Oura Ring.

As far as I can tell, the Oura Ring brought health tracking rings into the mainstream with its unobtrusive design and strong focus on recovery data. I wore the Oura Ring for a year and found it sufficiently different in purpose from a smartwatch to justify wearing one or more fitness-focused gadgets on a daily basis; Amazfit recently introduced a smart ring for serious athletes, but the Oura is a smart continues to be synonymous with smart rings.

That doesn't mean Samsung's Galaxy Ring can't shake things up. In fact, if you're a Galaxy smartphone user and already use other in-ecosystem devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, you may have plenty of reasons to be excited about the Galaxy Ring. According to Samsung's preview, the ring will focus on insights about sleep and recovery while leveraging updated Samsung Health AI features.

So what will happen to Oura? They don't seem too worried. The company sent us a statement from CEO Tom Hale about the Galaxy Ring launch: With new features released regularly, Oura has the strongest IP portfolio in the smart ring form factor, both hardware and software. The entry of new players into this space is a validation for the category and a driving force to aim higher to serve our community members.

My understanding is that Oura supports the smart ring category and welcomes competition as motivation to continue to innovate. But the company also believes that a particular smart ring experience can only come from the Oura Ring, thanks to the Oura Ring's healthy lineup of patents, which led the ITC to issue an order banning the sale of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the ongoing In the Masimo v. Apple infringement dispute in the United States, we are now witnessing the true benefits of patented medical technology. The U.S. court rejected Apple's motion for a stay of the sales ban.

While Oura should have the upper hand when it comes to actual smart ring technology and data, there is one way Samsung could crash the party: the Oura Ring Generation 3, which starts at $299, is not the most affordable fitness tracker It is not.

We've seen Samsung undercut the best smartwatches in terms of price, with the current flagship Galaxy Watch's starting price set lower than comparable Pixel and Apple Watch models. the Galaxy Ring's price of around $199 I would not be surprised if it is. Samsung must want as many people as possible to own both the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Ring.

But it's not just the initial price that matters; to enjoy all the best features of the Oura Ring, users will need to pay $5.99 per month for the Oura Ring membership. From experience, membership is a must.

Samsung has refrained from making Samsung Health a pay-as-you-go service. Last year, we spoke with the company's president and the global head of its services business team, who told us that there are no plans to start charging users a monthly fee for the fitness features. Of course, such a position could always change, but offering a smart ring that does not rely on recurring payments seems like a smart move. Samsung needs to give prospective smart ring users a compelling reason to turn away from the ecosystem-neutral Oura Ring.