The Samsung Galaxy Ring came forward as the first smart ring of a large technical player, giving the Oura Ring its first big rival.
Ouras has a few years and launches on Samsung and with the arrival of the Oura Ring 4 in 2024, it was intended to strengthen its place as the choice of smart rings.
I have had positive experiences with both the Oura Ring 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Ring, so as long as you have room for one smart ring in your life and in your hand, here is how the two compare to help choose.
Design and Build
These are attractive smart rings in slightly different ways. On the one hand you have the Galaxy Ring with its completely round, more matted titanium finish that comes in fewer colors. Those are gold, silver and black.
Mike Sawh
The Oura Ring 4 has a little more a normal ring out. There are many more finishes to choose from, and a little more titanium is used in the overall design.
You also get an extra size to choose from. It is completely round like the Samsung ring, where both have a small etching to indicate how the ring should be worn to ensure that sensors are in the best place to get the most accurate data.
Those sensor arizes are a bit different, with Samsung is more noticeable when the ring is switched on while the sensors of Oura Discreeter are on the interior of the ring. That more striking sensor hump does not make the Melkwegring uncomfortable to wear and these are two of the most comfortable smart rings that you can wear.
What Samsung has to his advantage is that it is 2.6 mm thick, it is slimmer than the Oura Ring 4 that is 2.88 mm.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Both offer water resistance up to 100 meters deep and are perfect for swimming and staying on for showering.
I would say that the charging solution on the Galaxy Ring is more to our taste than from Oura, which is a cradle, while Samsung uses a case that makes charging easier and ensures that the ring is not beaten in place when switching on.
Specifications and performance
First, let’s handle compatibility. The Samsung Galaxy Ring only works with Android phones, while the Oura Ring 4 can be linked to iOS or Android devices.
Mattias Inghe
In essence, these rings want to follow the same things. They want to check your daily activity, follow your sleep, heart rate, stress, skin temperature and blood oxygen levels using optical sensors and use that information to provide insight into your preparedness for your day. Samsung does that through its energy score and Oura because of its readyness score.
However, those scores are only as good as the data that drives them, and the good news is that both generally perform well on most fronts. They offer fairly reliable sleep statistics and I am impressed by heart rate monitoring outside more intense exercises.
Samsung offers automatic training recognition for runs and walks, while Oura does something similar for a few activities and you can use it through data from Strava, Apple Health and Google Health if you do not intend to use a sports watch or use your phone to keep training.
This helps to make the OURA’s readyness scores a little more trusting with the possibility to get data from more sources.
Mike Sawh
In addition to those core statistics, Samsung does not really offer big extras. Although the software has free access, it requires two apps – Samsung Wearable and Samsung Health, to make good use of it. A little more happens in the Samsung Health app, it just doesn’t feel specific to using the Galaxy Ring.
Oura, on the other hand, has only one app and it’s all about the ring. You have data in abundance, extra statistics aimed at the health of the heart or taking care of your mental well -being. There is just much more going on with the disadvantage that you have to pay to get the most out of all those functions.
Other important differences
As mentioned, there is a difference in the available ring size options. For Oura it goes from 4 to 15 with Samsung that offers sizes 5 to 15. Both offer free size packages if you are not sure about which size ring you best fit.
If you want the Smart Ring with a number of added smart functionality that goes beyond keeping track of your health and well -being, the Samsung ring supports a double Pinch gesture function that you can make with a Samsung Galaxy -Smartphone with photos or alarms with that gesture.
When used with a Galaxy watch, you also get the battery life for up to 30% longer because the tracking is shared between the two devices. For some, this can be a game -changing advantage.
Price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Ring costs £ 399/$ 399 and that applies to all three available colors that are available. Things are more different with the Oura Ring 4 where the cheapest version is at £ 349/$ 349 and rises to £ 499/$ 499 if you go for a gold or rose gold model. In short, you can get a Oura Ring 4 for less.
That is, until you take the subscription into account, you also need for an Oura, with that Oura subscription that costs £ 5.99/$ 5.99 per month or £ 69.99/$ 69.99 per year. Samsung will charge you nothing but the one -off payment for the ring.
I also compared the Oura Ring Gen 3 with the Oura Ring 4.
Pronunciation
If you have an Android phone and the all-round wants more affordable smart ring that offers a sympathetic design, slimmer look and you want it especially for a more elegant way to follow your sleep, heart rate and daily activity, to follow the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
If you want the best overall smart ring that gives you an attractive appearance, strong performance and a more thoughtful approach to software, then the Oura Ring 4 is the one you want. Remember that you also have to pay that subscription.
