Anyone who followed Samsung throughout 2024 will likely agree that there was a generous amount of hype around the Galaxy Ring initially. A brand-new device from Samsung? “Sign me up” is what most of us were thinking, as the company kept doing all the right things to keep the flame burning until the big release. Now, Samsung's enthusiasm seems almost entirely gone, leaving us with many questions.
A brief history of the Galaxy Ring in 2024 would go something like this:
- Samsung teased the Galaxy Ring at the first Unpacked event of the year in January, leaving everyone wanting more.
- A month later, in February, Samsung generated more hype around its upcoming smart ring when it brought it to MWC, where nobody could even touch it but could capture photos and videos of the wearable behind a glass enclosure.
- The Galaxy Ring was officially unveiled at the second big Galaxy Unpacked event of 2024 on July 10 in Paris. On that day, the Galaxy Ring entered a pre-order period.
- Officially, the Galaxy Ring was released in a handful of markets on July 24. But more on that later.
Then, silence followed. Two months after its official debut, it almost seems as if Samsung forgot about the Galaxy Ring. At least, that's the feeling we're getting. There's no hype around this new wearable anymore, and we're wondering why. What happened?
If we look back to other products released in 2024, even Circle to Search gained more love from Samsung and its marketing team. Remember when the company spent $1 million on Circle to Search ads in London? And that was just the beginning of the Circle to Search legacy.
Did the staggered release hurt the Galaxy Ring?
The unfortunate reality is that even though Samsung officially released the Galaxy Ring on July 24, this date didn't mark what we would usually call a global release. At least, not by Samsung standards.
For example, last week, the Galaxy Ring finally made it into a few more countries in the Americas, like Brazil and Mexico. And only yesterday did the Galaxy Ring become available in the Netherlands and Belgium.
You can now buy the Galaxy Ring in more markets, but would you know about it without reading the news? There was no fanfare, and we can't find any new and exciting YouTube ads for the Galaxy Ring — aside from the original one published on YouTube two months ago.
Releasing budget devices, such as the Galaxy Fit 3 or the Galaxy Watch FE, without a fuss is par for the course. But we're talking about a brand-new wearable for which Samsung went out of its way to promote and tease several times throughout 2024, leading to its big debut in Paris. Now, it almost seems like Samsung did a U-turn.
Meanwhile, Samsung's new 1TB microSD cards just got a massive spotlight shining on them through a whole new series of YouTube ads titled TERAtory. The company published four of these video ads in just two days!
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This apparent lack of enthusiasm from Samsung regarding the Galaxy Ring seems unusual and uncharacteristic. We're now entering speculation territory, but it's hard not to have questions, given Samsung's silence.
One explanation for this lack of enthusiasm could be that Samsung somehow ran into manufacturing or supply chain issues and, for whatever reason, wasn't ready to release the Galaxy Ring when it did.
It's also possible that Samsung may have overestimated the smart ring market or the demand for such a device. However, the initial demand was so high that the first 400,000 batch wasn't enough, forcing Samsung to add another 600,000 units to the initial production run. But there are no concrete sales figures today to go by.
The Galaxy Ring has many good things going for it (hit the link for our review), and unlike smart rings from other brands, it doesn't require a subscription. On paper, it's on track to become a best-seller.
Then again, it might cost a bit too much to generate mass sales. Samsung may have expected it all along, but even so, it doesn't explain the apparent lack of enthusiasm. If you have a product that sells, you tend to push it into the spotlight. And Samsung isn't doing that.
Samsung, where's your love for the Galaxy Ring?
We can only hope this lukewarm release won't hurt the future of Samsung's smart rings. Fundamentally, the Galaxy Ring is a neat device, but we're wondering if Samsung mishandled its release. We suspect many more people would have bought it right after Unpacked if Samsung had given them the chance.
In theory, Samsung could turn this ship around now that the Galaxy Ring appears to be slowly reaching more markets. All that would take is for Samsung to focus more on promoting the device through some clever marketing campaigns. Give the Galaxy Ring the same love the 1TB microSD cards got. But will Samsung do it? Only time will tell.
Today, you can buy the Galaxy Ring in more markets than ever. None of this takes away from the Galaxy Ring itself, but whether or not this lack of advertising is hurting sales and the future of this emerging product category is another matter. As for why Samsung took the road it did, it's a mystery we may never solve.
