Samsung Galaxy Ring is non-repairable

iFixit performed a teardown of the Samsung Galaxy Ring and the conclusion is clear – if the $399/€449 smart ring ever gets damaged or its battery dies it will be good for nothing. There’s no way to replace the battery on the Galaxy Ring without destroying the entire device and the rest of the components are soldered on so good luck with any repairs. Taking the Galaxy Ring apart involves melting the epoxy resin coating on the inside and chipping it away with a pick.

Samsung Galaxy Ring teardown

iFixit also shared a computed tomography (CT) scan of the Galaxy Ring which gives us our best look at the innards of the device.

Fitting the multitude of components inside the Galaxy Ring’s slender frame is a true engineering marvel but that’s also its downfall as everything is sealed and made so that you cannot perform any repairs.

Galaxy Ring features the Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 system on a chip which provides 2x Arm Cortex-M33 cores with 512 KB RAM, 1 MB storage as well as Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity. There’s also a tiny wireless charging coil and a battery pack next to it and an NFC tag as well as an antenna for transferring signal between the ring and your paired smartphone.

Galaxy Ring teardown procedure

The interesting bit is that the charging coil on the Galaxy Ring is not soldered to the printed circuit board (PCB) like on other smart rings and instead opts for a repair-friendly press connector. The irony is that the PCB is sealed into the Galaxy Ring’s frame so there’s no way to replace the component without breaking the ring.

Galaxy Ring teardown procedure pt.2

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