Accordingly, Samsung Electronics is expected to decide whether to go into mass production in August based on previous development results.

"Galaxy Ring, if it's a medical device certification target, it could be released next year." It is the conjecture of many people.

It is expected that Samsung Electronics will make a decision in August at the earliest on whether to mass-produce the 'Galaxy Ring' that the company has participated in the development of before. Currently, the preliminary development of the Galaxy Ring is in the conceptualization stage, and when mass production is decided in August, product development will begin in earnest.

Even if mass production is decided in August, it's still possible that Samsung Electronics will only be able to release the product next year if the Galaxy Ring receives the same medical device certification as the Galaxy Watch.

Galaxy Ring - a smart ring - is a wearable device with a ring-like design. Users can check body and health information collected by various sensors mounted on the smart ring on the smartphone app.

Samsung Electronics is currently in the preliminary development stage to exchange and realize the Galaxy Ring concept with other component manufacturers. Therefore, the final decision to deploy the production line of Galaxy Ring or not still depends on the 'pre-emptive development' stage.

During this process, the thickness and performance of the parts required for the Galaxy Ring are considered. Reportedly, the results of this preliminary development assessment will be reported to Roh Tae-moon, president of the MX division at Samsung Electronics, in August. After deciding to mass produce the Galaxy Ring, the development process Product development can begin in earnest.

Even if Samsung Electronics decides to mass-produce the Galaxy Ring in August, it may take some time before the product is released. This comes from having the same functionality as the Galaxy Watch, Samsung Electronics needs an extra medical device approval period for the Galaxy Ring. More specifically, it takes 7 to 8 months for product development and 10 to 12 months for medical device approval.

An industry official said: "In order to apply for medical device certification, the product must be developed to the point where it can receive radio wave certification. (Samsung Electronics decided to mass-produce the Galaxy Ring in August). Even if development is completed around July, it will take another 10 to 12 months for medical device approval,โ€ he said.

ย Looking at previous devices, the Samsung Health Monitor blood pressure measurement app used in the Galaxy Watch has been certified by the Department of Food and Drug Safety as a medical device for measuring blood pressure in 2020. The Galaxy Watch recently launched can also measure electrocardiograms.

If Samsung Electronics decides to treat the Galaxy Ring as a simple healthcare product without medical device approval, the process is expected to be faster.

The Galaxy Ring is expected to have better body measurement accuracy than the Galaxy Watch. Since this ring has the ability to be customized to the size of the user's finger, errors due to loose wearing of the product can be minimized. However, it should also be noted that in this ring, blood flow through the finger is weaker than that of the wrist, so the accuracy of the information may be reduced or the smart ring may be tight. to error when measuring blood flow.

If the Galaxy Ring doesn't have features that differentiate it from the existing Galaxy Watch, then the Galaxy Ring could dominate the Galaxy Watch market.

Reportedly, Samsung Electronics is also considering a Galaxy Ring that works with XR devices. The Vision Pro, a mixed reality (MR) device launched by Apple in June, tracks the user's head and hand movements with 12 cameras and 5 sensors without the need for a special controller.

Samsung Electronics also explains the technology of collecting various information through the smart ring through a recently granted (registered) patent.

According to market research firm Canalys, shipments of bracelet products including smartwatches, basic watches, and basic bands last year were 182.8 million units, down 5% year-on-year. Last year, the shipments of smartwatches, which are high-end products among strap products, were about 80 million units.

As for Smart Watch shipments by company, Apple has around 40 million units and Samsung Electronics has around 20 million units. Canalys said product shipments from both Apple and Samsung Electronics last year increased year-on-year.

On the other hand, in the industry, the term advanced development is divided into 'pre-development' to realize the product concept and 'pre-development', which refers to the stage before mass production. During the preliminary development phase, prototypes are created and the scalability of the product is reviewed to determine mass production, lead time, and volume.

The chart shows the sales of smartwatch products by technology companies. Photo: Canalys

Market research firm Canalys announced that in 2022, Apple will be first (about 40 million units) and Samsung Electronics will be second (about 20 million units) in the number of smartwatch shipments globally. (Data = Canalys)