Apple engineers planned three smart wearable devices, including a ring

Samsung has just announced it will unveil the Galaxy Ring – a smart ring that is seen as the next evolution in the wearable devices portfolio. While local brands like Boat and Noise have already launched their smart rings, the leader in premium wearable devices, Apple, is also said to have thought about making it. In fact, it is not the only wearable device that the company’s engineers planned about.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a few years ago, Apple’s industrial design group presented an idea of a smart ring to the company’s health team executives.This smart ring would take health-tracking features from the Apple Watch and put them on your finger.
Company not developing any ring
Gurman noted that the ring is just an idea and Apple isn’t actively developing such a device, “but there are certainly people within the walls of Apple’s campus promoting the concept.”
This ‘hypothetical’ ring would focus on health and fitness. Many people buy the Apple Watch for health tracking, monitor their heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, calories burned and steps taken, and essentially do not like the notification sounds of apps and phone calls on Apple Watch.
There is another section that doesn’t want a smartwatch or Apple Watch in particular but wants to have access to the company’s fitness tracking technology. The ring could serve these customers as a low-cost way to gather key health data without the need to wear a full-blown watch.
While it may not generate as much revenue as Apple Watch, Gurman says, it may tap a new type of customer (and even theoretically offer it as a subscription) and would less likely to ditch the iPhone for an Android device.
Apple planned smart glasses
Apple also explored the idea of developing smart glasses — something similar to new products from Facebook parent Meta and Amazon, Gurman added.
“The glasses could provide audio (so users don’t have to wear AirPods) and take advantage of AI and cameras to identify things in the surrounding world. The device also could act as a stepping stone toward Apple’s long-held dream: true augmented reality spectacles that you can wear all day,” Gurman said.
The company recently launched the Vision Pro headset that is priced at $3,500 but it is for a niche market. Just like the ring will be cheaper than an Apple Watch, these glasses would be less expensive than Apple’s headset and would have cameras, speakers and health sensors.
Reportedly, the company has had early discussions about creating glasses that would serve as an AirPods replacement — but with larger batteries, a number of sensors and broader AI capabilities.
“The glasses are in an exploratory phase known as ‘technology investigation’ within Apple’s hardware engineering division. The company also is looking into other ideas, such as equipping AirPods with cameras,” Gurman added
Apple’s Smart AirPods
The third smart wearable that Apple planned to develop is a smart pair of AirPods. The company is said to be exploring the idea of putting cameras on the earbuds, along with more advanced AI and health sensors.
“That would give consumers many of the benefits of smart glasses without needing lenses and frames,” Gurman said, adding that cameras could theoretically capture data that would be processed via AI and assist people in their daily routines.