Samsung Brings the Latest Tech Trends to Wearables with New AI-Enabled Watches and Rings

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung is equipping its mobile devices with the latest technological advancement: artificial intelligence.

The South Korean electronics giant revealed on Wednesday that both its first-ever luxury smartwatch and a smart ring, heralding the company’s foray into a niche market, will feature artificial intelligence features designed to help people monitor and manage their health.

Both the $650 Galaxy Watch Ultra and the $400 Galaxy Ring are a continuation of a move Samsung started six months ago with the launch of its first smartphones, which were supposed to be headlined by AI technology. The high-end smartwatch costs twice as much as Samsung’s latest standard model, the Galaxy Watch 7, which will sell for $300.

Connecting AI to essential devices has become an accelerating trend, with the technology already being embodied in smartphones from Google and Apple, which compete with Samsung, as well as in the latest personal computers running Microsoft’s Windows software.

The implementation of AI in Samsung’s new premium watch and ring is primarily aimed at improving and maintaining health – the main reason most people buy wearable technology.

Both the Samsung Watch and Ring rely on AI to better analyze biometric data collected from the wearer, allowing it to customize how they feel with an “energy score” that will provide ratings on a scale of 1 to 100, as well as make recommendations like a virtual fitness trainer.

Much like Apple plans to do with its AI services, Samsung’s new wearables will collect the most sensitive information on the devices themselves. However, some data will still be processed via remote computing centers with a “defense-grade multi-layer security platform” that Samsung likens to a virtual Fort Knox, reflecting Apple’s commitment to collecting any personal data that needs to be processed off-device in a digital fortress. However, these promises don’t necessarily guarantee that there will never be security breaches or other failures that inadvertently expose personal data to third parties.

Samsung’s premium phone is the more sophisticated of the latest wearables, capable of performing some functions — such as sleep apnea alerts — that the Galaxy Ring can’t. The Ring, however, requires less frequent charging, as it has a battery that can last six to seven days before needing to be refilled.

But the smartwatch is also in a much more crowded market, currently led by Apple, which has intensified its focus on health features since entering the market a decade ago. More than 60 million people already use the Samsung Health app that works with its smartwatches.

The health benefits of wearable technology have helped encourage more people to buy smartwatches, with worldwide sales of the devices expected to approach about $29 billion this year, according to a forecast by research firm Gartner Inc. That means about 164 million new smartwatches will be worn on wrists this year, and Gartner predicts annual sales will rise to 195 million in 2028.

Samsung will likely face bigger challenges in the smart ring market, although it won’t face much competition for now. The segment has been shaped by startups like Oura and RingConn, which haven’t made much of an impact so far.

“Smart rings are still a growing category that has no exclusive application, and there is little expectation that they will expand beyond a niche market” by 2028, Gartner said in its latest review of the wearable technology market.

The company estimates that the small segment that includes smart rings will generate sales of $2.4 billion this year, eventually growing to about $4.6 billion in 2028.

While it will be available in nine different sizes, Samsung’s Galaxy Ring only fits one type of software—Google’s Android operating system. That largely rules out affluent consumers who own iPhones and are often interested in trying out new forms of technology like the Galaxy Ring.

Samsung is also rolling out its latest attempt to get more people to buy a foldable phone that features two display screens that can be connected by a hinge, allowing the device to be transformed into a pseudo-tablet. It’s a concept Samsung has been promoting since 2019 with minimal success, but the company continues to update the device with camera and AI features to feed a niche market. The next-generation model, the Galaxy Z Fold 6, will sell for $1,900.

Meanwhile, union workers in South Korea have called an indefinite strike to pressure Samsung to accept their demands for higher wages and other benefits. Thousands of members of the Samsung Electronics National Union began a temporary three-day strike on Monday. But the union said Wednesday it was calling an indefinite strike, accusing management of being reluctant to negotiate.

Samsung says there have been no production disruptions.

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The article has been corrected to reflect that the standard Samsung Watch starts at $300, not $350 as reported in the previous version.