Samsung’s July Galaxy Unpacked event finally revealed its new Galaxy Ring wearable and what it can do. That’s in addition to other new products, like the AirPods-like Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro, a beefy Galaxy Watch Ultra, and a redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 6 with squared corners and much brighter displays.
The Galaxy Ring is the big one — Samsung’s entry will be the first serious smart ring from one of the big phone and smartwatch makers when it becomes available on July 24th. The ring is facing an already entrenched but still fairly niche market occupied by the Oura Ring, Evie, and Ultrahuman.
The company also revealed a new Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Galaxy Watch 7, talked about some new Galaxy AI features, and gave pricing information for all of the new devices. Everything is up for preorder now and will be available on July 24th.
In addition to three new wearables (the Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Watch 7, and Watch Ultra) and a new pair of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Samsung has unpacked details on its two newest foldable smartphones: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 ($1,899.99) and Galaxy Z Flip 6 ($1,099.99). Both bring minimal improvements over their predecessors yet start $100 higher than previous releases. Preorders start today, and the devices will begin shipping on July 24th.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 most notably add the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset. It has a dedicated neural processing unit for the growing list of Galaxy AI and Google Gemini features present in Android 14 and One UI 6. Samsung refined their outward design with a flatter profile and less curvature around the corners and edges while making internal room for better cooling properties. Both devices also get an IP48 rating for protection against dust and water. They previously didn’t have an ingress protection rating for dust, though the “4” in that slot means it’s not exactly dust-tight — it only guarantees protection against objects 1mm or larger.
Samsung didn’t just announce new foldable phones and wireless earbuds during its Samsung Unpacked event on Wednesday but also a new lineup of wearables: the Galaxy Watch 7 ($299.99), the Samsung Ring ($399.99), and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra ($649.99). While you’ll have to wait until July 24th until they’re officially available, all of the wearables are available to preorder now in the US.
The new wearables target a wide audience, from casual users to outdoor athletes. The Samsung Galaxy Ring is a stylish wearable that’s more of a discreet health tracker, while the Galaxy Watch 7 is a smartwatch that’s more capable with new sleep apnea detection capabilities. Yet it’s not as feature-packed as the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which, as my colleague Victoria Song wrote in her hands-on impression, is basically the Android version of the Apple Watch Ultra. Built for the active, outdoorsy type, Samsung says it is its most durable watch yet and replaces the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro as Samsung’s premium smartwatch.
Source: theverge.com
