On Monday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman dropped an extensive interview with the CEO of Oura Health Oy (the company behind the popular Oura Ring), Tom Hale, about the company's future and how its flagship fitness tracker, one of the best smart rings, is faring.
Within that piece, Gurman seemed to confirm that Oura is working on the fourth generation of their fitness-tracking smart ring. Allegedly, the new device will see an announcement sometime in October.
The current third-generation Oura Ring was announced on October 26, 2021, and released on November 16. A similar announcement and release will probably be in line for the fourth generation if it comes out this year.
According to sources from Gurman, the newer Oura Ring will have stronger battery life and a thinner design. The activity tracking is supposed to be much better as well, with Gurman describing it as the "biggest product overhaul in three years."
Hale says the hardware makes up most of their sales but expects software to rise over time. It's unclear if that means new software products or a rising subscription price.
“Retention is better than any other subscription model I’ve seen,” Hale said. “To double this business, we don’t have to do that much.”
Other news from Gurman's interview revealed that the Finnish company is expected to sell $500 million in products between the rings and subscriptions. Hale said that the company has sold more than 2.5 million rings.
There have been several competitors over the years, but probably the biggest is Samsung, which just launched its $400 Galaxy Ring in July and is already one of the best Oura Ring alternatives. This was after Samsung preemptively sued Oura to prevent the company from filing patent claims against Samsung. Apparently, Oura has a habit of suing competitors, so it may have been more of a defensive move.
Allegedly, Apple is working on an Apple Ring, but similar to the iPhone Flip, there isn't a definitive timeline for when either of those mysterious products will arrive.
