Apple’s involvement in the development of smart ring technology has been well-known for some time now. It would appear that the market is ready, and Apple is prepared to move beyond the stage of patenting its product. As stated in a report published by the Electronic Times, Apple’s development process is getting closer and closer to delivering a product that is ready for the market.
According to the story, which cites an individual who is familiar with the supply chain, “it seems likely that commercialization is imminent.” Unfortunately, the article does not specify when exactly we can anticipate an Apple Ring to be available for purchase in retail stores; but, taking into consideration the present state of the industry, this shouldn’t be too much of a wait.
Later on in this year, Samsung is going to debut its very own smart ring, as the company has officially revealed. In addition, the market is no longer dominated by a single major brand-name product, such as the Oura Ring. Recently, new competitors have entered the market, including RingConn, Ultrahuman, and Amovan, amongst others. Despite this, the market participants are not simply manufacturing rings that are capable of measuring fitness.
In addition, there are companies such as Quontic and McLear that are selling smart rings that enable users to make payments for contactless transactions. Both of these are areas in which Apple has a vested interest, particularly when one considers products that have achieved phenomenal success, such as Apple Fitness+ and the entire ecosystem of Apple Pay.
It appears that Apple has been making preparations for it. It was claimed by Bloomberg in 2015 that Apple had filed a patent for a ring that would include a touchscreen interface. Over the subsequent years, several further patents were filed that detailed a ring that could also be used to operate other connected devices, including a Mac, an Apple TV, an iPad, and even virtual reality equipment.
A smart ring patent that was submitted in the United States and featured near field communication (NFC) was recently discovered by Patently Apple. This invention also had the potential to be technically implemented as a controller for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset. In this context, it is important to note that Apple has not yet developed a physical controller for the headset; hence, the introduction of a ring as a companion device would make perfect reasoning. Based on Apple’s patent history, we have seen some designs of what an Apple Ring may look like, and it appears to be rather stunning.
Apple is not often the first company to introduce a new product category, according to the company’s history. When it comes to making an entry, the corporation prefers to wait for the market to grow and for the technology to advance before doing so. The Apple Watch is a fantastic illustration of that method, and it appears that Apple intends to emulate it with its efforts to develop smartwatches with its products.
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