This still feels very unlikely to happen
Another patent for an Apple Smart Ring has landed and reveals the company is still looking at the wearable technology for gesture and smart controls.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen a patent for an Apple smart ring. We first reported on the company’s interest back in 2015, and have been following developments ever since.
And back in 2020, we also reported that the company was toying with the idea of smart rings for gesture control.
So what’s changed?
Well, not a lot. Despite being a totally new filing, much of the newly granted patent is essentially the same as what was filed in 2019, 2020 and 2022. You can read the updated 2023 patent here.
It focuses on a touch-sensitive panel on the smart ring, that could enable control of connected devices.
In the patent, Apple describes the control of “smartphones, media players, wearables, smart home control and headphones, earbuds and augmented/mixed reality.”
In fact, the wording is almost entirely similar to the earlier filing. But it shows that Apple is still playing around with the idea, and devices like the Reality Pro make this kind of application even more likely.
Samsung is also toying with a Samsung Galaxy Ring – and its patents have also toyed with gesture control as part of its feature set.
That’s a big departure from the likes of the Oura Ring and Ultrahuman, which have focused on wellness.
Smart rings have remained relatively niche, and Amazon has been the only tech giant to play in the space, and it canned its experimental Echo Loop back in 2020.
So it’s interesting to see whether these patents make the light of day, and we see an infux of super-charged smart rings in the future.
