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Smart rings had a genuinely eventful 2026. One major player shipped a real product, another delayed its most anticipated launch by a year, and a handful of smaller brands used the gap to push out serious upgrades of their own. Here’s a full roundup of where every major smart ring stands as of August 2026.
Oura Ring 5 — Released, June 2026
Oura holds the lead position in smart rings, and it just extended that lead with a real product, not a rumor. The Oura Ring 5 launched June 4, 2026, starting at $399 for Silver and Black finishes ($499 for premium colors like the new Deep Rose and Stealth matte black). It’s roughly 40% thinner and lighter than the Ring 4, with 6-9 days of battery life and new features including Health Radar, Blood Pressure Signals, and Live Activity Tracking.
We cover the full spec breakdown, pricing, and upgrade advice in our dedicated Oura Ring 5 release date, price, and specs guide. If you’re deciding between Oura and Samsung specifically, our Oura Ring 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy Ring comparison covers the platform-level tradeoffs, though see the Galaxy Ring update below before assuming Samsung’s next model is imminent.
Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 — Delayed to Early 2027
This is the biggest smart ring story of 2026, and it’s a delay rather than a launch. The original Galaxy Ring, released in 2024, was widely expected to get a sequel sometime in 2026. Instead, reporting through the first half of 2026 — including from 9to5Google, Android Central, and Digital Trends — converged on a clear picture: the Galaxy Ring 2 is not launching in 2026, with early 2027 now the expected window.
Two separate factors are driving the delay:
- A patent dispute with Oura. Oura filed a patent complaint against Samsung in November 2025, and unresolved litigation makes it risky for Samsung to ship a second-generation ring until the legal picture is clearer.
- Samsung reconsidering its own release cadence. Beyond the legal issue, reporting suggests Samsung is rethinking how a Galaxy Ring 2 fits into its broader launch calendar and weighing how fast the smart ring market is actually growing before committing marketing resources to a sequel.
When it does arrive, expected improvements include better battery life (up from the original’s roughly 7 days toward 9-10 days), a more comfortable design, and new health sensors — though treat all of that as preliminary given how far out the launch now is.
RingConn Gen 3 — Preorder May 2026
RingConn, a smaller but increasingly credible player in the space, opened preorders for the RingConn Gen 3 on May 5, 2026. Its standout pitch: it’s reportedly the first smart ring to combine blood pressure trend monitoring with haptic feedback alerts, all without a required monthly subscription — a meaningful differentiator against Oura’s subscription-gated model. Battery life is rated around 13 days, competitive with or ahead of most rivals.
For buyers put off by Oura’s ongoing membership cost, RingConn Gen 3 is worth serious consideration if the no-subscription model matters more to you than Oura’s broader ecosystem and longer track record.
Ultrahuman Ring Pro — Shipping August 2026
Ultrahuman’s Ring Pro replaces the Ring Air as the company’s flagship and was reportedly redesigned in part to navigate patent constraints in the smart ring space. The headline spec is battery life: up to roughly 15 days, a substantial jump from the Ring Air’s 4-6 days, alongside about 250 days of on-device data storage for offline use.
Ultrahuman originally targeted mid-May 2026 for shipping but pushed the date back, with shipments reportedly beginning around August 10, 2026 — meaning it’s either just landing or about to land in customers’ hands as of this article’s publish date.
Circular Ring 2 — Also in the Mix
Circular, a smaller competitor in the space, has continued developing its Ring 2 lineup, which includes an FDA-cleared ECG feature — a notable claim given how few consumer wearables of any form factor have that specific clearance. If ECG accuracy matters more to you than any other single feature, Circular is worth researching directly, though it has a smaller install base and less independent long-term testing than Oura.
Garmin — Explicitly Not Making a Smart Ring
Garmin is the clearest holdout in the category, and unusually, the company has been direct about why. Garmin executives have repeatedly and publicly stated they have no plans for a smart ring, arguing the form factor is fundamentally limited: a ring simply doesn’t have the physical space for the sensors and LEDs a watch can fit, which caps how accurate its health data can ever be relative to a wrist-worn device. Garmin’s stated view is that a ring’s only real advantage is convenience — not accuracy — and the company has filed no smart-ring patents, unlike its approach to other product categories it’s actively developing.
If you’re a Garmin loyalist wondering whether to jump to a ring for convenience, that’s a legitimate reason to consider Oura or a competitor — but don’t expect Garmin itself to offer one anytime soon, and there’s no indication that’s changing before the end of 2026.
Why the Smart Ring Category Is Suddenly So Crowded
It’s worth stepping back and asking why 2026 produced this much activity in a category that, a few years ago, was basically just Oura. A few forces are converging:
Oura proved the market exists. Oura’s sustained growth over several generations demonstrated real, durable consumer demand for a screenless, always-worn health tracker — enough that competitors now see the category as worth the R&D investment, not a niche experiment.
Battery and sensor miniaturization matured. The jump from roughly 4-6 day battery life to 13-15 days across RingConn and Ultrahuman’s newest models in a single generation reflects genuine component-level progress, not just marketing — smaller, more efficient chips and batteries are making rings practical in ways they weren’t a few years ago.
Patent disputes are reshaping who can ship what. The Oura-Samsung litigation and Ultrahuman’s reported redesign to route around patent claims both point to the same underlying reality: Oura holds meaningful IP in this space, and it’s now actively defending it, which is slowing down competitors even as more of them enter the market.
Subscription fatigue is a real differentiator. RingConn’s no-subscription pitch specifically targets a documented frustration with Oura’s membership model. As more rings launch, expect subscription-vs-one-time-cost to become one of the primary ways brands differentiate, alongside battery life and accuracy claims.
What to Watch For the Rest of 2026
A few threads are still unresolved and worth checking back on before year-end: whether the Oura-Samsung patent dispute resolves (or escalates) in a way that changes Samsung’s 2027 timeline further, whether Ultrahuman’s Ring Pro shipping delay (mid-May pushed to August) repeats for future updates, and whether any additional brand — smaller startups occasionally surface in this space — manages a credible launch. Given how much movement happened between January and August 2026 alone, treat this landscape as genuinely fluid rather than settled.
2026 Smart Ring Landscape: At a Glance
| Brand / Model | 2026 Status | Notable Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Oura Ring 5 | Released June 2026 | Smallest/lightest Oura ring yet; Blood Pressure Signals |
| Samsung Galaxy Ring 2 | Delayed to early 2027 | N/A yet — patent dispute with Oura |
| RingConn Gen 3 | Preorder opened May 2026 | No subscription required; BP trend + haptics |
| Ultrahuman Ring Pro | Shipping ~August 2026 | Up to 15-day battery |
| Circular Ring 2 | Available | FDA-cleared ECG |
| Garmin | No ring planned | N/A — watch-only strategy |
Which Smart Ring Should You Actually Buy Right Now?
Buy Oura Ring 5 if you want the most established platform, the best track record for sleep and readiness accuracy, and don’t mind an ongoing subscription. It remains the default recommendation for most buyers in 2026.
Consider RingConn Gen 3 if the no-subscription model is a dealbreaker for you with Oura, and you’re comfortable with a smaller, less established brand.
Consider Ultrahuman Ring Pro if multi-week battery life and long offline data storage matter more to you than Oura’s broader software ecosystem.
Wait, if you specifically wanted a Galaxy Ring — the sequel isn’t coming until 2027 at the earliest, so a same-brand upgrade isn’t currently an option if you already own the original.
If you’d rather compare rings against wrist-worn options entirely, our best fitness trackers 2026 guide covers the broader wearable landscape, and you can check current pricing on the Oura Ring 5 or explore RingConn smart rings on Amazon.
Whichever ring you pick, remember that hardware is only half the purchase decision — check each brand’s subscription requirements and ongoing cost before buying, since that’s increasingly the biggest practical difference between options in 2026.
We’ll keep this roundup updated as the Galaxy Ring 2 timeline firms up and any new entrants launch through the rest of 2026.
Sources: 9to5Google, Android Central, GSMArena, Gadgets & Wearables, SmartWearables.io, Notebookchat / Garmin.