Wearables Leader Oura's CEO Not Concerned Despite Samsung Entering The Market

In the last few years, the world of wearable technology has grown at a rapid pace. From smartwatches to smart rings, the consumer electronics market has been flooded with technology aimed at helping users monitor and enhance their health.

At the forefront of the industry sits Finnish health technology company Oura, which is known for its smart rings, particularly its flagship Oura Ring 4.

In fact, Oura is known as a pioneer in wearable technology.

Oura’s unique and industry-redefining product has resulted in an influx of technology companies pivoting their research and development teams to innovate such technologies into existence, some with deep pockets and massive manufacturing capabilities.

In July 2024, Samsung entered the smart ring race with the launch of its Galaxy Ring, which comes infused with Galaxy AI.

However, this doesn’t seem to bother Oura much, as its CEO recently eloquently conveyed. In fact, it’s only boosting his efforts.

Speaking about the entrance of Samsung into the arena at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Oura CEO Tom Hale said, “I’m sure that a major tech company making an announcement saying: ‘Hey, this is a category that matters. It’s going to be something that’s big.’ I think it’s probably helpful.”

“In terms of the impact on our business, it has made zero impact. If anything, our business has gotten stronger since their announcement.”

Furthermore, the CEO believes tech giant Apple won’t even enter the market. “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,” said Hale.

“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.”

Apple has been keen on the wearable technology sector, though it has been focusing more on smartwatches.

On the flip side, Oura has been expanding its operations through a variety of acquisitions, as it pushes forward with the aim of growing globally.

Recently, the company revealed it bought Sparta Science, a health-tracking startup, to expand its enterprise’s capabilities.

This marked the company’s third acquisition in two years, following its purchase of digital identity platform Proxy in May 2023 and health/diabetes monitoring company Veri in September 2024.


Another key factor to Oura’s success is its core principles. The company’s CEO has always wanted to set the company as a health company and a science company since its inception.

“If you’re actually thinking [of] yourself as a healthcare company, it is very different in many ways and different postures you might take towards data privacy. ... So instead of being like a tech company where data is some sort of oil to be extracted and then used to create some kind of advantage of network effects, we’re really a healthcare company where your data is sacrosanct,” said Hale.

Oura offers more than hardware to its customers. Through a $5.99 monthly subscription service, which has nearly 2 million subscribers, users get insights from their ring based on various biological parameters.

Now, the company is looking to utilize user data to generate nutritional insights, where users take a picture of their meal and input it into the Oura app.

Its capabilities have sparked reports documenting the smart rings' ability to predict when someone is about to get sick. In one case, the ring was able to diagnose something was off before a user even experienced symptoms of dental infection.

Shyamal Patel, SVP of Science at Oura, was told by his primary care physician that his elevated resting heart rate was normal. A few days later, Patel developed an infection and had to undergo emergency dental surgery.

So far, the company that’s valued at $2.5 billion has sold more than 2.5 million smart rings since launching. According to CCS Insight, Oura is set to hold a 49% market share in smart rings going into the final leg of the year.

Do you think Oura will be able to maintain its position as the market leader in smart rings, or do you think Samsung will be able to challenge that status? Do you think Apple should enter the arena?

Let us know in the comments below!