Samsung unpacked what it dubbed as the pinnacle of “unintrusive health technology” with the Galaxy Ring, a wearable designed to provide AI-powered personalised wellness data, alongside premium foldable phones and upgraded accessories.
At its Samsung Unpack event in Paris, the vendor unveiled the new devices as well as outlining plans to expand its Galaxy AI ecosystem, with the president of mobile experience business at Samsung TM Roh stating the software will be available on 200 million Galaxy products this year.
The Galaxy Ring was the headline grabber from the event and Koh explained it is “building the Galaxy AI ecosystem in a way that only Samsung can”, with the software embedded at the heart of the brand’s new and well-anticipated wearable.
The accessory was promoted as the first “unintrusive” health tech of its kind, designed to support a week of battery life in a single charge and allow “around-the-clock” health monitoring.
Its sensors are built to track sleeping patterns and daily activities, resulting in algorithms that can provide detailed and personalised health information including an energy index, heart rate data and respiratory analysis.
Galaxy Ring is made of titanium and is available in gold, silver and black for £399. On top of the accessory, Samsung also introduced the latest versions of its wearables: the Galaxy Watch7; Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Buds3 Pro.
Commenting on the Galaxy Ring, chief analyst at CCS Insight Ben Wood said the product is “a device category that fits well with growing consumer interest in tracking health metrics and it is complementary with Samsung’s current smartwatch sales, particularly when monitoring sleep”.
“Only a small proportion of consumers wear their smartwatches in bed which means a huge chunk of data is not captured, not just around sleep, but also heart health, body temperature and more”, he added.
Paolo Pescatore, founder of PP Foresight described Galaxy Ring as “the star of the show with all eyes on this new device and category for Samsung”.
“There’s a lot riding on this as it looks to broaden its audience and breadth of offering. This will be heavily marketed given Samsung extensive presence and touch points with telcos and alike. A product that could help drive smartphone sales and migrate users over to its platform.”
Folded
Samsung also unveiled a duo of new foldable smartphones: the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6. The former flaunts a 7.6-inch main screen, a 6.3-inch HD front cover screen and packs a range of improved AI features including a productivity assistant and a chatbot accessible on some Google apps, powered by Gemini.
It comes with a 10-megapixel self-portrait camera and 4-megapixel under display camera, on top of a rear triple camera system. Galaxy Z Fold6 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset for Galaxy and a 4400MAH battery. Price for the device starts from £1,799.
As for Galaxy Z Flip6, it sports a slimmer form factor with a 6.7-inch main screen and a 3.4-inch super AMOLED FlexWindow display, which provides access to AI functions including tailored text messages and Samsung Health features without unfolding the device. The handset also comes with new AI-powered imaging solutions. It has a 4000MAH battery. It is priced at £1,049.
“Ultimately the Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 cater for different audiences with take-up largely driven by need of form factor rather than AI. We are still in the early days of AI and articulating the merits of AI with the new features to users will be no easy feat,” said Pescatore.
