Ultrahuman Is Back: Can the Ring Pro Beat Oura in the US Market?

Ultrahuman is back in the United States. The noted Oura Ring competitor has been absent from the American market since October because of a patent dispute but is now cleared by US Customs and Border Protection.

As WIRED reported in August, the US International Trade Commission had previously ruled in favor of Oura in a patent infringement case against competitors Ringconn and Ultrahuman. This decision was a big setback for Bengaluru, India-based Ultrahuman, which had established a manufacturing facility in Plano, Texas, to bypass tariffs. Ringconn reached a royalties agreement with Oura, while Ultrahuman pulled its Ring Air from the US market and countersued.

Now, the smart ring company is betting its comeback on its new Ring Pro.

Ultrahuman 2.0

New hardware includes a redesigned heart rate sensor and a dual-core processor for machine learning, and it can store your health data on the device for up to 250 days (the Oura will only store your data for a week). Perhaps its strongest appeal is that, unlike Oura, Ultrahuman doesn’t charge a subscription fee to access core health metrics. Rather, Ultrahuman offers the basics for free, even including some upgraded tools called PowerPlugs, which include features like ovulation tracking, along with advice on things like when to consume caffeine and how to optimize your vitamin D absorption from the sun.

Some other PowerPlugs do come with an added fee, including AFib detection, respiratory health monitoring, migraine insights, GLP-1 tracking, and integrated mental health support with BetterHelp.

The Ring Pro also arrives with a new Pro Charging Case, which promises up to 45 days of combined battery life and up to one year of on-device data storage. Additional features of the case include Find My Case functionality, an LED battery indicator, and faster firmware updates.

Preorders are open now, with shipping slated to begin May 15. The first 1,000 customers got the Ring Pro and Pro Charging Case for a discounted price of $349. That will now increase in tiers before reaching full price at the end of the preorder period.

The Ring Pro will retail for $399, and the Pro Charging Case will cost $100; you can purchase the bundle for $479. The Ring Pro is available in bionic gold, space silver, aster black, and raw titanium.

Back in November, research firm Omdia estimated Oura controlled 74 percent of the market, with Ultrahuman and Samsung tied at 9 percent each. Between its US return and the debut of its upgraded smart ring, Ultrahuman is well-positioned to disrupt those numbers.

I'll be testing the new Ring Pro and its charging case; stay tuned for the full review.

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