Huawei spinoff Honor developing a smart ring after Samsung debuts its own wearable

BARCELONA — Chinese electronics maker Honor is working on a smart ring, its CEO told CNBC on Tuesday, just a day after Samsung took the wraps off of its own offering in the product category.

Samsung debuted the Galaxy Ring on Monday after teasing it earlier this year. The device, which is the company’s first foray into the product category, has multiple sensors that can track health markers, such as the wearer’s heart rate. It is part of a broader health push by Samsung.

Honor is developing its own smart ring, company CEO George Zhao told CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“Internally, we have this kind of solution, now we are working on that part, so in the future you can have the Honor ring,” he said.

Zhao disclosed very few details about the product, but said that it is part of the firm’s broader focus on health.

Spun off from Huawei in 2020 as a result of U.S. sanctions, Honor has pushed aggressively to launch its own smartphones and expand its presence outside of China, particularly in the premium market, where it seeks to rival Apple and Samsung.

The company has also expanded into other devices, including wearables such as smartwatches, which can also measure some health indicators.

With a ring, Honor could add another product to its portfolio and link them together with its health app, much like Samsung is looking to do.

Zhao said he sees artificial intelligence as a key way to help provide more health insights to users.

“This hardware capability will work together with AI-enabled apps (and) can help you make the professional training course tailored for you because they studied your habits and health data to give you professional suggestions,” Zhao said. “I think AI will transform this kind of applications.”

Honor has been talking up its AI capabilities at MWC this week and showed off technology on its smartphone that can track your eyes to carry out functions.