What you need to know
- Samsung's new Galaxy Ring sold out just a few days after pre-orders opened up for the device.
- The smart ring became available for pre-order again late last week, but some sizes will result in a long wait for delivery. Some third-party retailers aren't providing a delivery estimate at all.
- Despite being expensive at $400, the Galaxy Ring is clearly in high demand, and it shows that smart rings are more than a gimmick.
Samsung spent a while teasing the Galaxy Ring, after previewing it at the first Unpacked of the year and showing it off in more detail at Mobile World Congress. However, it was far from certain that the smart ring would be a success. There were rumors about an expensive pricing model that could've featured a high upfront cost and a subscription. Plus, Samsung was going against brands like Oura and others which have a lot more experience in the space.
It seems like even Samsung might've doubted how much of a hit the Galaxy Ring would be. The smart ring sold out just a few days after pre-orders opened up, and far before the ring's official release date. Third-party retailers kept accepting Galaxy Ring preorders but made no official estimation of when they might ship.
As of late last week, the Galaxy Ring became available again, albeit with long shipping windows. 9to5Google first discovered the restock and noted that some sizes are still hard to get, even after Samsung started accepting preorders for the Galaxy Ring again. In fact, some combinations of sizes and colors are still sold out completely.
The official release date for the Galaxy Ring is July 24, but buyers who place a preorder now will have to wait significantly longer than that. Some uncommon sizes and colorways are available sooner than the more popular ones. You can get a Galaxy Ring in size six and the titanium silver color for delivery on July 26, just a few days after the release date. However, sizes 10 and 12 come with Aug. 7 delivery dates, and you won't get a size 11 ring until Aug. 21.
If you need a size 13 ring, you're completely out of luck. Delivery is "unavailable" for a Galaxy Ring in that size — for any colorway — and you're not able to place a preorder at all.
We don't know how many smart rings Samsung made in its initial production run, so it's hard to call the Galaxy Ring a resounding success this early. It is clear that demand has exceeded supply, and that does tell us one of two things. Either the company played it safe, testing the waters before placing high-volume production orders. Or, it underestimated the demand for the Galaxy Ring entirely, and was surprised by the overwhelming amount of preorders.
Regardless of which possible scenario is actually true, it's still impressive that the Galaxy Ring sold out so early. You have to consider that the initial wave of preorders came before most initial reviews of the Galaxy Ring were live. That means early buyers were mostly going off of Samsung's claims and the media's first impressions, and enough people bought in based on that alone.
Why is the Galaxy Ring so popular?
I ended up placing a preorder for the Galaxy Ring, though I bought mine after it sold out, so I don't have a delivery date at all currently. As an early buyer, I think there are two main reasons why the Galaxy Ring has been so popular already despite not even being officially released yet. The first one is that smart rings are the real deal. It's easy to say they're a gimmick because they have basic sensors and no on-device interface. But that's far from the case.
The benefit of a smart ring is that you can wear it all the time. With a smartwatch, you have to keep it charged, and it's bulky. I can't wear a smartwatch to bed — it's just too clunky and uncomfortable — and I lose out on sleep-tracking insights as a result. Even a slim tracker like the Whoop 4.0 is too disruptive. That's where a smart ring comes in. You can wear it in the shower, during your day-to-day life, and to bed. With long battery life and quick charging, you can wear a smart ring almost every hour of every day.
Now, the second reason the Galaxy Ring is a hit is because it's the first smart ring to deeply integrate with a smartphone ecosystem. It's true that devices like the Oura Ring work on both iOS and Android, but they don't have deeper integration, and people want that deep integration. There's a reason Apple users buy an Apple Watch, Pixel users buy a Pixel Watch, and Galaxy users buy a Galaxy Watch. It just creates a better experience.
Samsung is quietly building a compelling health ecosystem with the Galaxy Ring and the Galaxy Watch at the forefront. It's appealing to me, and apparently, it's appealing to many others. We shouldn't discount how impressive it is that the Galaxy Ring sold out in the preorder stage, and we definitely shouldn't discredit smart rings in general.
