After foldables, the Galaxy Ring might be Apple's next target

Samsung has been selling foldable phones for many years now while Apple has taken its sweet time in joining the bandwagon. Apple is now expected to launch its first foldable phone in the second half of this year.

There's another segment where Apple hasn't competed with Samsung yet, but it may be getting down to it now. A rumor claims that Apple may be working on a smart ring.

The Galaxy Ring is Samsung's first smart ring. It launched with much fanfare but things have been quiet on the smart ring front since then. Samsung is due to launch a successor but as things stand, we may not see the Galaxy Ring 2 until next year.

Meanwhile, Apple hasn't made a smart ring as yet. It's typically not so quick to jump on hardware trends as we've seen with its delay on foldables. So even if it found this to be a worthy category to compete it, Apple was always going to enter the fray on its own terms.

Earlier reports have suggested that Apple was taking a go-slow approach on smart rings because it felt the device could eat into its Apple Watch sales. Whether that thesis has changed remains unclear.

However, unsubstantiated rumors can hardly be considered as confirmation. Apple likely works on many products that never see the light of day, so even if it has a project in the pipeline, it's unclear if a final product will ever be released.