Oura CEO baits Apple with smart ring shade: ‘it’s hard to do this product category right’

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Oura’s smart ring has led many to wonder if Apple would ever create its own competing ring product. Oura’s CEO apparently doesn’t think so, and his reasons include some clear bait for the tech giant.

Apple’s wearables line may not need a smart ring

Tom Hale, Oura’s CEO, recently gave an interview where he was asked about any concerns of Apple introducing a smart ring in the future (via MacRumors).

Arjun Kharpal has the story for CNBC:

“I think they [Apple] are unconvinced about the value of having a ring and a watch together and they’re not interested in undercutting the Apple Watch as a business,” Hale told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. “I think they’re probably keeping a close eye on Samsung and a close eye on us, but it’s hard to do this product category right.”

Hale’s point about not wanting to undercut the Apple Watch business is a good one. Almost 10 years into its life, Apple has continued finding tremendous success with the Apple Watch.

The company also has another extremely successful wearable product: AirPods. And with iOS 18.1 Apple shipped some major new health features on AirPods Pro 2. More health features are reportedly in the works for future AirPods models.

But the line about it being ‘hard to do this product category right’? Yeah, that’s all bait.

I’m sure the Oura Ring was a complicated product to create, but Apple absolutely has all the know-how it needs to create a competitor if it wants to. At this point though, it doesn’t seem to have much reason to.

What do you think? Should Apple create a smart ring? Let us know in the comments.