The Galaxy Ring appears to have a surprising cost-cutting design that contradicts the ring's non-repairable design.
The Galaxy Ring was officially announced during the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this year, and they are fantastic little pieces of kit. However, the rings have one major issue: they cannot be easily repaired if they break. This is shown in a recent report from iFixit, which recently took one apart. To do so, the group had to melt the resin and plastic, and then chip away at the remains with a dental pick. While the innards were mostly what we expected, there was one surprising design choice.
Interestingly, Samsung apparently connected the battery and inductive cord to the circuit board through a press connector. Usually, this is done to make it easier to replace the battery on the ring, but the ring's design makes this an impossibility. To save space, we would have expected Samsung to solder the coil to the logic board, in the same way as the Oura Ring Generation 3. However, it is likely due to the coil and board being built in different places and then put together in a third location, which means using a press connector is cheaper overall.
The issue revealed in this teardown has to do with the Galaxy Ring, like many devices, comes with a lithium-ion battery. While these batteries are easy to produce and offer a long charge, they have a limited lifespan and must be replaced. However, as this teardown shows, there is no way to do so with the Galaxy Ring. This means that once your battery dies, there's nothing you can do other than get a new ring, which also explains why companies like Oura don't include battery issues in their 1-year warranty.
While it might not be possible to fix the Galaxy Ring, it still offers some great features for users. The Galaxy Ring is lightweight and comfortable to wear, although the sizing process is a bit tedious. However, the biggest strengths are the health and sleep tracking features. While relying on your smartphone, they offer detailed insights into your health and sleep patterns and can help chart improvements and inform what you need to work on.
While it is interesting to see the internals of the ring, it is troubling that taking the device apart is so difficult. Hopefully, the battery in the Galaxy Ring lasts long enough that users get the most out of it because they'll have to get a new one if not. For more information on how the Galaxy Ring compares to the competition, check out our best Smart Rings for 2024.
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