Oura Ring 5 goes on sale Monday
World's smallest smart ring, 40% slimmer than predecessor
'Korea is a key market,' company says, pledging investment push
Finnish smart ring maker Oura has officially entered the South Korean market with its new Oura Ring 5, priced at 630,000 won ($445) — staking its claim in a segment where even Samsung Electronics has struggled to gain traction. The company says it plans to lead the domestic smart ring market by emphasizing sleep and stress management features.
George Abbott, Oura's general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific, made the announcement Tuesday at a press conference held at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul. "Korea is one of the most technology-friendly countries in the world, and Oura sees Korea as a key market," he said.
Abbott went on to say the company would expand its Korea business by broadening accessibility, raising brand awareness, strengthening partnerships and pursuing localization. "We will increase our investment to make it easier for Korean consumers to get their hands on the Oura Ring," he said.
Oura, founded in 2013, is a global smart ring manufacturer with a presence in roughly 4,000 retail stores and members in 150 countries.
Abbott identified sleep tracking as the device's biggest competitive advantage as the company moves to capture the Korean market with the Oura Ring 5.
"The Oura Ring was not the first wearable, but it was one of the early wearables focused on sleep," Abbott said. "Because sleep is the foundation of health, Oura focused on optimizing rest and recovery while other wearables concentrated on activity tracking."
He added that the sleep tab allows users to track the quantity and quality of their sleep, including time spent in each sleep stage and blood oxygen levels. The company plans to expand its health management features to cover activity, stress, heart health, illness detection and women's health, he said.
Oura also highlighted the Ring 5's compact design. According to the company, it is the smallest smart ring currently available, measuring 6.09 millimeters wide and 2.27 millimeters thick — a 40 percent reduction in size compared to its predecessor.
Briar Lynch, Oura's senior vice president of hardware engineering, said the new model is thinner, lighter and more comfortable than previous versions, with the difference in thickness immediately apparent when the two are placed side by side. "We didn't just shrink the components — we redesigned the mechanical and electrical architecture from scratch," he said.
Lynch said the slimmer profile came without sacrificing performance. "The ring is thinner, but we did not compromise on signal strength, accuracy or battery life," he said. "LED performance has actually been enhanced, and 12 precise sensing pathways allow stable signal measurement even during high-movement activities."
Oura is betting on 12 years of industry experience to carve out a leading position in South Korea's smart ring market. The category remains a niche segment domestically. Samsung Electronics brought wider public attention to smart rings when it launched the Galaxy Ring in 2024, but sales fell short of expectations, leaving the market well behind smartwatches in terms of adoption.
On how Oura differentiates itself from Samsung Electronics, Lynch said the company's 12-year focus on smart rings gives it an edge in delivering health data and insights to customers. "We support both Apple iOS and Google Android, and we continuously roll out new features," he said.
The Oura Ring 5 goes on sale in South Korea on Tuesday. It will be available through Oura's official online store, Lotte's online mall and Naver Smart Store. Shoppers can also purchase the ring in person at an Oura pop-up store on the first below-ground floor of Lotte World Mall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, through Sept. 7.
Pricing ranges from 630,000 won to 780,000 won depending on color. The black and silver versions are priced at 630,000 won, while the gold, stealth, brushed silver and deep rose versions retail at 780,000 won.
chami@heraldcorp.com
