Technologies are loaded into rings – Kommersant FM
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Electronics manufacturers are preparing to ring their users: gadgets that can be worn on the finger have been announced by several IT giants. Samsung recently introduced a device called Galaxy Ring with fitness tracker features. The Chinese company Xiaomi showed a similar new product at the CES exhibition in Las Vegas. According to specialized media reports, Apple also plans to create such a gadget. Could such devices become a bestseller? Anastasia Taslunova talks about this.
The idea of a ring with a chip and multiple functions has often appeared in movies, and not just in science fiction films. In one episode of the TV series Billions, the head of a hedge fund decides to give such devices to his employees, assuring them that it will increase sales, profits and prolong life.
Similar smart rings are already on sale. One of these devices, Oura Ring, is produced by a Finnish company. The price in rubles for the latest model is about 60 thousand. Its functions duplicate the options available to users of the Apple Watch and other smartwatches. But, since the gadget is worn on the finger, it allows you to get more accurate data on heart rate and body temperature.
The ring may also be of interest to buyers for other reasons, believes IT expert Alexander Baulin: “The watch has a limitation – it must have a screen that must be clearly visible. The ring has fewer of these restrictions. In addition, I would expect such devices to become popular when, for example, a chip for bank cards appears in them en masse. There are already rings with such a separate function, and why not combine them?
How popular such devices will become will depend, of course, on price and functionality. If the ring lies when displaying pulse and blood oxygenation, it is clear that it will not be in demand.”
What rings are IT giants preparing to offer users? Xiaomi showed Amazfit Helio Ring. The manufacturer from China promises that, along with other indicators, it will read the psychological state of the user. Galaxy Ring, as reported in a short announcement, will be equipped with artificial intelligence and will help manage a smart home.
Prices for the devices have not yet been announced. And the future gadget from Apple so far exists only on paper in the form of a patent. In fact, the abundance of functions in rings is unlikely to become a key advantage in the competition between brands, says Sergei Kuznetsov, editor-in-chief of itzine.ru: “Such devices should definitely be cheaper than watches. It’s much easier to hook a user who has a phone into the ring and then sell him, for example, watches and headphones. I am more than sure that design and a premium approach will be more important for such gadgets.
Most likely, these rings will somehow be combined with other brand products. That is, there will be some kits, for example, a special phone case, so that the user can have it all in harmony with each other.
Manufacturers will think mainly about style, and functionality will really fade into the background, or even into the background.”
Jewelers are also interested in the prospects of smart gadgets. Some companies, including Russian ones, are already selling accessories with fitness tracker functions. At the same time, in the future, smart rings may turn out to be a problem for business representatives.
Analysts attributed the drop in sales of Swiss watches, among other things, to the popularity of the Apple Watch. The same situation with rings is unlikely to repeat itself, although there is a market segment where IT giants can reduce the income of manufacturers of traditional jewelry. This is not ruled out by Expo-Jeweler magazine expert Viktor Subbotin:
“There may be rings for two halves, for those who are constantly in touch with each other. That is, some kind of solution for young people, representatives of the new generation, who no longer want to live according to ordinary, established traditions and buy, for example, a gold wedding ring. Based on this, we can probably try to predict that these gadgets still have a future.”
Demand for health monitoring devices is projected to continue to grow. Thus, according to Persistence Market Research estimates, the global smartwatch market is growing by more than 10% per year on average in monetary terms. The same trend has emerged in Russia. In the first half of 2023, Russians, as retailers reported, spent tens of billions of rubles on fitness trackers and smart watches. Year on year, sales increased by one and a half times.
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