Oura CEO Says Apple Won't Make a Smart Ring Because 'It's Hard to Do'

Oura CEO Tom Hale doesn't believe that Apple has plans to get into the smart ring market because an Apple-designed smart ring might undercut sales of the Apple Watch.

oura ring 4
In an interview with CBNC, Hale said that Apple is likely "unconvinced about the value of having a ring and watch together," and he said that while the company is likely keeping a close eye on both Oura and Samsung, an Apple smart ring probably won't happen because "it's hard to do this product category right."

Oura recently came out with the Oura Ring 4, a product able to track movement, fitness, health, stress, and sleep. Oura is one of the most well-known companies in the smart ring space, and it first came out with a ring back in 2015.

Rumors suggest that Apple has explored the idea of a smart ring, but the company reportedly has no plans to launch one at this time. Back in October, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that no ring is in active development.

Apple is said to be worried about cannibalizing sales of the Apple Watch because a smart ring would have many of the same features as the watch. Apple's industrial team proposed a smart ring that would be a lower-cost alternative to an Apple Watch, but Apple executives weren't interested.

Should smart rings pick up in popularity, Apple could decide to design one after all. Back in July, Samsung launched the Galaxy Ring, a device that works with Galaxy devices and tracks movement, sleep, heart rate, and respiratory rate, providing users with a daily sleep score and an energy score.

Apple has patented ring-like devices, resulting in "iRing" rumors, but Apple often patents all manner of products that never make it to launch.

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Top Rated Comments

sunapple Avatar
12 months ago
Tim Cook says Oura won’t make VR goggles because they’re hard to do.
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ZMacintosh Avatar
12 months ago
perhaps, but also, why? why does everything now have to be a "smart" device or even a "device"?
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrJR Avatar
12 months ago
No thanks. I don't want to get married to my technology.

However, with 5G and Bluetooth the reception would be fantastic...... I'm here all week.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DunedinD Avatar
12 months ago
Y’know what else is hard to do? A smartphone that’s a delight to use. A tablet that people actually want to buy. A personal computer that’s doesnt make you want to smash the screen in at least once a day. A smartwatch that succeeds despite the initial mocking.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Return Zero Avatar
12 months ago
I can't stand these types of articles. It makes it sound like the CEO just came out and randomly/brazenly started commenting on Apple's strategy.

The reality is that an interview was set up to promote their new product, the interviewer asked specific questions about competition from Samsung, the CEO responded by focusing on his own product and vision, then the interviewer got even more specific about health trackers and mentioned Apple, the CEO responded without mentioning Apple (but describing why he thinks the finger is a better point to track metrics than the wrist), then the interviewer mentioned iPhones in a question about AI, and the CEO responded without mentioning Apple. That's all the video clip on the CNBC site showed, but I guess at some point the interviewer kept pestering him about Apple enough that he finally commented on them. Per usual, the media asks leading questions to break the stories they want to break, not to simply break the actual news.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
constantsnags! Avatar
12 months ago
I got my Oura 4 last Friday and started wearing it on Monday morning. It's now Thursday morning where I am, I haven't taken it off, and I've still got 34% battery left. It's very possible. I also haven't worn my AWU2 or Garmin Fenix 7X to sleep since I got it. It's worth it for that alone.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)