Though we got a first look at the Samsung Galaxy Ring at MWC 2024, there's still a lot we don't know about the tech giant's highly anticipated smart ring, including how long it lasts between charges. Now Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy Ring will get between five and nine days on a single charge, a battery life that would beat its main competition: the Oura Ring.
As first reported by 9to5Google, Samsung's VP of digital health, Dr. Hon Pak, said as much in a recent press briefing covered by Financial News. Samsung's mobile chief TM Roh echoed that same estimated battery life, between five and nine days, in a February TechM report spotted by Android Authority. Roh also confirmed that the ring doesn’t support phone calls, a departure from Samsung's other wearables like the Galaxy Watch 6.
The Galaxy Ring is able to last up to nine days on a single charge because it lacks a screen, Financial News reports. Of course, whether its battery life will last that long in practice remains to be seen, and it could fluctuate depending on usage.
For instance, one of the best fitness trackers on the market right now, the Oura Ring, claims to last up to seven days on a single charge. But in our testing, we found the Oura Ring Generation 3 needed juice about every five days on average. My colleague Kate, who wore the Oura Ring Gen 3 for a year, experienced the same, though after Oura added a blood oxygen sensing feature, she found the battery life dropped down to three days when continuous SpO2 monitoring was enabled.
The same may very well end up being true for the Galaxy Ring. It remains unclear how the Galaxy Ring will use its sensors to track your activity, sleep, and other health metrics. Some wearables use periodic readings to conserve battery life; others rely on continuous tracking or offer users the option to toggle between the two. If the Galaxy Ring is anything like the Oura Ring, it stands to reason that enabling continuous tracking means sacrificing battery life. The size of the ring (Samsung is offering the Galaxy Ring in nine sizes) could also influence how long you're able to go between charges.
However, if that nine-day estimate holds true, it would give the Galaxy Ring a serious edge over other smart rings, most of which average less than a week on a single charge. So if you're sick of charging your smartwatch every day or ending up with a dead Oura Ring, this is definitely one wearable one to watch out for. Samsung vice-president Dr. Hon Pak previously told The Elec that we can expect a Galaxy Ring launch sometime in the second half of the year.
