Smart ring or smartwatch: Samsung’s Dr Hon Pak shares how fitness trackers will evolve

Smart ring vs smartwatch – this is a debate that will go on for the next few years. While they do have a different form factor, both these devices have more or less same sensors and fitness tracking abilities. So, which one do you buy? Also, what’s the future of fitness trackers? Will we see other changes and improvements beyond form factor? These are some of the questions I asked Dr Hon Pak, the Vice President and Head of Digital Health Team, Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics.

The timing couldn’t have been better as Samsung is the latest major tech company to launch its smart ring. The Galaxy Ring made its debut last week during the Galaxy Unpacked 2024 and while it’s an exciting new devices, it primarily does things that the Galaxy Watch already can.

Hon Pak told Times Now Tech that there are a bunch of new things Samsung is working on but cannot reveal yet. Talking about the Galaxy Ring in particular, he said that it might be similar to a smartwatch in terms of capabilities but it’s about the form factor and giving people more choices.

“What they want to wear when they sleep. And then there’s women’s health, particularly for women, they don’t want to wear this (pointing at the watch). Some of them just wanted this (pointing at the ring) and they wanted fertility tracking and other assistance. But to your point, there are other things that we can do. And we’re looking at, you know, beyond gestures or other things that people have talked about and thinking about other healthcare-specific features. And I think next year or two you’ll see more of that coming out,” he said.

When asked if we should expect a 2nd-generation Galaxy Ring next year, Pak said that there is not any formal announcement of how frequently Samsung is going to release the next version or the ring. He added that you can expect more software changes instead of a hardware release change.

Dr Pak has about three decades of experience in healthcare and health information technology across both the public and private sector. He has served as an adjunct faculty in Georgetown University and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Telemedicine and eHealth, a publication that focuses on telemedicine technologies. Dr Pak has also served as Chair of The American Telemedicine Association Board, Advisor for the Health category for Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and Chief Medical Information Officer for the US Army.