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Apple Has No Plans For a Smart Ring

kiranmk2 said:
A shame. I'd love an Apple Ring for the battery life. I imagine Apple could bring a load of ecosystm features to it - for example, they could incorporate a capacative sensor to allow rubbing your thumb over the ring to change the volume of your music, fast forward your videos or scroll through lists on your phone. If it could include an NFC chip for Apple Pay that would be the icing on the cake.
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good ideas. made me chuckle to see so many unimaginative people saying 'what could apple possibly do to innovate?'

it could also serve as:

  1. an active presence sensor for detecting users in homekit
  2. support uwb for aiding in device finding
  3. act as a findmy device
  4. perform touchID for mac/ios device
  5. 2fa key
  6. HID/RFID key
  7. device lockdown mode (if ring is removed)
  8. a point of reference in space for AR/VR
  9. an ir blaster
  10. a camera
  11. microphone for voice calls and notes without taking phone out or rerouting airpod audio
  12. apple pay
  13. shareplay
  14. handoff to homepods
  15. compass for walking/biking directions
 
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desslr said:
Another stupid decision from a stupid incompetent Board.

Less than 10% of Apple Watch owners wear it to bed.
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I think it's one of the best decisions Apple has made lately, akin to ditching the Apple Car. I used to leave the watch on the charger overnight, but I bought the wife a series 9 ($299 on Amazon), and took her series 6. Now I wear my series 7 during the day, and the 6 overnight. I charge the one I'm not wearing until I put it on.
 
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erihp said:
good ideas. made me chuckle to see so many unimaginative people saying 'what could apple possibly do to innovate?'

it could also serve as:

  1. an active presence sensor for detecting users in homekit
  2. support uwb for aiding in device finding
  3. act as a findmy device
  4. perform touchID for mac/ios device
  5. 2fa key
  6. HID/RFID key
  7. device lockdown mode (if ring is removed)
  8. a point of reference in space for AR/VR
  9. an ir blaster
  10. a camera
  11. microphone for voice calls and notes without taking phone out or rerouting airpod audio
  12. apple pay
  13. shareplay
  14. handoff to homepods
  15. compass for walking/biking directions
Click to expand...
maybe someday. Oura sells a ring for $400+ that just has three sensors in it. Batteries and sensors, cameras, etc. take up space. But good to have ideas since the future may allow more.
 
I've emailed Tim Cook (not that he even looks at them) for the past (4) years asking him to release a smart band (i.e. watch without a screen). I really enjoy wearing normal watches and it would look ridiculous to wear both a normal watch and an Apple Watch. I currently wear my Apple Watch at night (for sleep tracking) and Oura during the day. I would greatly prefer to wear a band from Apple as I feel like all of the health monitor is the best with them. Maybe I will try the Whoop band, if Apple isn't going to come out with something. Come on Apple.
 
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Niche or not would be sick to see Apple take a stab at something like this and other innovative things. Phones, tablets, speaker assistants and watches have peaked. The Vision Pro never had a chance with starting at $3500.

I wish they would get back into networking. Since the Airport Extremes, UniFi has been taking all of my money.
 
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To thee, technology, I do thee wed. This ring is a symbol of my unending commitment.
1728607321853.gif
 
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McWetty said:
Id like a ring to offload health functions from the watch. The watch has terrible battery life because of the sensors constantly polling for data. I’d love the watch and ring to compliment each other.
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The ring would suffer the same problem but more so. I was considering an Oura ring. I thought maybe it could be good to detect possible apnea at night but it can't. The main reason it's not designed to do so is because that would require a lot more battery to constantly check. Too bad because your finger is better for some things than your wrist. With the current technology neither a watch or ring is very good for accurate health monitoring. I hope that changes.
 
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It’s too bad. I really want a ring to track everything as I wear nice watches. Disappointing for sure. The Aura Ring looks nice - but I was waiting for Apple’s solution. I guess it’s time to buy the Aura Ring.

Anything that gets me out of the ecosystem is a good thing.
 
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desslr said:
Another stupid decision from a stupid incompetent Board.

Less than 10% of Apple Watch owners wear it to bed.
Click to expand...
I think it’s not the Board that you can blame. It’s the leader not leading anything but the money. Tim doesn’t care what we want. He only cares about the money. I truly believe that.
 
bbednarz said:
And you really think a $400-$500 ring is going to greatly increase those numbers?
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Given the low profile and week long battery life, yes. Anecdotally, my wife got an oura for this particular reason. Her puny 40mm S8 was too bulky for her to sleep with (even if the battery lasted up until bedtime, let alone through the night without another charge).
 
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subjonas said:
If it's just sensors, I'm not sure what Apple could do with a ring to make it special or any better than what's out there, so there's probably no strong reason for Apple to get into that (probably very niche) market.
Maybe someday a ring could be used to help navigate AR glasses.
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Apple could take the health sensors from the watch, and improve its battery and other features. Besides, the back of the wrist isn’t optimal for taking measurements, like how pulse ox is often taken at fingertips. This way, people can get health metrics without a watch, and a more affordable watch is available for “tech bros”. Apple gets to sell two devices, so a win for them. Both devices have better battery life than the nebulous “all-day” claim, consumers win.

I agree on your hesitation to declare features Apple would do better. However, selling the ring without a subscription beats Oura. Thankfully, insurance can cover Oura subscription costs (insurance isn’t entirely useless for once!)
 
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