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Potential price of the Galaxy Ring
Samsung gave us a good look at the Galaxy Ring, but it was pretty vague about what it will charge for the smart ring. That’s likely to come up today, as we imagine Unpacked will include a big reveal of the Galaxy Ring’s pricing and availability.
In the meantime, we can only speculate about the Galaxy Ring’s potential prices. Most smart rings cost around $300, though that’s just the price of the ring itself. Some devices also come with monthly subscription fees if you want to get something out of your wearable.
For what it’s worth, leaked Galaxy Ring pricing suggests you’ll pay between $300 and $350 for the Galaxy Ring. This is a bit more expensive than the Oura Ring, but you also pay for a subscription with this product. It is unclear whether Samsung will also charge a recurring fee at this time.
Possible color variants
Color options are always a major focus leading up to major phone releases, and that’s especially the case with the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, as the eye-catching design is part of the phone’s appeal. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 color rumors have been fairly consistent from the start.
Based on rumors and a series of leaked renders that look pretty official to our eyes, it sounds like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will come in pink, navy blue, and silver. Look for brighter options with the Galaxy Z Flip 6, which comes in silver, green, light blue and yellow. If none of these options grab your fancy, Samsung occasionally offers exclusive colors on its website, so stay tuned.
eat my dust
One of the most commonly cited concerns about foldable phones is their durability — people are reluctant to pay anywhere from $999 to $1,799 for one of Samsung’s foldable phones if there’s a chance the device might… well… stop folding. And one of the things that can bring a device to its knees faster than you might think is dust.
This applies to Samsung’s current foldable devices, which are water-resistant but not dust-resistant. This leaves potential Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip buyers worried about dust getting into their potential phones and wreaking havoc on the moving parts that make the phone open and close.
With this background, you can understand why my colleague Richard Pirday is excited about the feature proposed for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6. The new phones are expected to have an IP48 rating. This means that the phones will be able to resist dust and even survive immersion in water. If true, it’s an improvement that could make people much more confident in buying a foldable phone.
Meet the bioactive sensor of the Galaxy Watch
The Galaxy Watch 7 is also likely to be on the Galaxy Unpacked program, although Samsung has already given us a look at one of the new features coming to the watch. Samsung has unveiled the BioActive health sensor that will be part of its upcoming watch.
Fitness editor James Frew has the details of the BioActive health sensor, but TLDR; The version is that it’s part of Samsung’s smartwatches, and this improved version boasts optimized sensor placement, which should result in more accurate readings for things like heart rate monitoring. There’s also more space on this chip, along with improvements to the LEDs used to measure heart rate.
Olympic environment
The timing and setting of this Unpacked is a bit more interesting than your typical Samsung event. While Samsung usually holds its product launches in New York or San Francisco, this year’s Unpacked takes place in Paris. And this is happening just a few weeks before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
In fact, Samsung moved Unpacked up from its usual late July/early August schedule so that the product launch could take place in Paris before the Summer Olympics. This is partly because Samsung is one of the sponsors of the event. But I’m guessing that the company’s choice in setting is also behind the types of products that Samsung is going to introduce today. As I wrote this weekend, health and fitness tracking will take center stage at Unpacked, to the point where foldable phones will likely be overshadowed.
By the way, my colleague Kate Kozuch is in Paris for Unpacked, so check back for updates from her later in the day.
Oura is preparing for the Galaxy Ring
If today is the day the Galaxy Ring is launched – and all signs point to it being – arch rival Samsung’s smart ring isn’t taking the news lightly. Just before Galaxy Unpacked, Oura announced plans to introduce artificial intelligence features to its Oura Ring.
The newly introduced Oura Advisor is a suite of AI-based tools that analyze data and come up with useful tips to improve your sleep and mental well-being. Or, as Oura puts it, the advisor feature available to Oura Ring Gen 3 owners taps into “”AI and empowers [you] achieve [your] health goals with personalized insights, recommendations and encouragement.”
Your move, Samsung.
If Samsung doesn’t have a surprise up its sleeve, it’s not our product accustomed Today on Galaxy Unpacked you will see the Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE. That’s a cheaper version of the Galaxy Z Fold that would take away some features — forget S Pen support, for example — in exchange for a lower price.
Rumors have been swirling for a while about a possible budget foldable device from Samsung that appeared at the Unpacked summer event. But in May, there were reports that Samsung was preparing to work on this particular device. The problem is said to be that Samsung was worried about the lack of differentiation from the full-fledged Galaxy Z Fold 6.
The FE version of the Fold may not be completely dead. It is rumored that it could appear early next year alongside the Galaxy S25. But that’s an Unpacked event for another time.
Galaxy AI, take two
Samsung’s current foldables — the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 — already boast some Galaxy AI features, as Samsung has brought the features it introduced with the Galaxy S24 to recent flagships, including the latest Fold and Flip. This means that features like Circle to Search and Chat Assist are already part of Samsung’s foldable experience.
Samsung expects to expand Galaxy AI functions today at Unpacked. We know this because Samsung told us so last month in a blog post by Won-Joon Choi, who happens to lead the company’s Mobile Experience R&D department. “Our foldable devices are the most versatile and flexible form factor in the Samsung Galaxy, and combined with Galaxy AI, these two complementary technologies together will unlock all new possibilities,” Choi wrote at the time.
It’s unclear what form the Galaxy AI features proposed for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 might take, but at least one rumor suggests a Fold-specific capability that will make use of generative image editing. Rumor has it that you’ll be able to take any drawings you create on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and have AI tools enhance them to make them look more stylish.
This is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Galaxy AI features coming to Samsung phones, as I think AI has to be the feature that sets Samsung’s foldable device apart from the crowd.
Close up with the Galaxy Ring
It’s too early to pick an MVP Unpacked, given that the event is still hours away. But it’s quite clear that there’s a lot of attention surrounding the Galaxy Ring, the smart ring that will mark Samsung’s first entry into this new health tracker market.
Samsung showed off the ring briefly at January’s Unpacked event and then gave us a look at different colors during February’s Mobile World Congress. What Samsung hasn’t told us yet is the price or what the Ring will be capable of.
At least the leaks filled in some details on the last question. According to leaks, the ring is meant to measure both heart rate and stress levels, and is widely expected to also monitor sleep patterns with snoring detection features for potential sleep apnea diagnosis. Other potential features include the ability to measure skin temperature and predict menstrual cycles.
Some reports even claim that the Galaxy Ring could include an EKG sensor as well as another blood flow sensor. However, these rumored abilities seem far-fetched to us.