By Kavita Mistry 
It has been a couple of days since Daniel Rotar, from the ZONEofTECH YouTube channel, posted about his struggles with the Samsung Galaxy Ring. For those who hail from other planets (welcome to Earth, folks, ignore the pollution), Daniel’s Galaxy Ring had swelled up so much that he could not remove it. To make matters worse, this happened just before he was scheduled to board a flight. He was not allowed to board the flight because of the ring (there was evidently concern that it might explode), and had to go to a hospital. Social media, being the eternally optimistic place it is, there was genuine concern that he might end up being able to count to only nine on his fingers, but the ring was safely removed, leaving Daniel with an intact, if bruised and slightly burnt digit. You can read about the whole ordeal – complete with images of before-and-after ring fingers – on Daniel’s X page.
The reason the ring swelled up was because of a swollen battery in it. As this is being written, Samsung (which also reached out to Daniel and got him home) is looking into the matter. From early indications, it seems that salt water might have been one of the reasons for the battery’s malfunctioning. Given Samsung’s Note-able history with batteries that swell up dangerously, there has been a fierce backlash on the Internet against the brand. However, we think that this is a little unfair. The Galaxy Ring’s battery issues are not a wake-up call just for Samsung, but for wearables.
Wearables are amazing…until something goes wrong (and something CAN go wrong)
We have been going ga-ga over how amazing wearables are for a while now. Be they TWS, watches, rings, glasses, et al, wearable tech has been generally seen through glasses of rose-tinted optimism. For many of us, wearable tech is the future. In all this sunny positivity, the safety aspect of these devices has been pretty much forgotten. Many of us have been so busy being amazed at what wearables can do that we have largely ignored what can happen when things go wrong. And as Daniel discovered to his shock, things CAN go wrong even with high-profile wearable tech.
Of course, there will be many who will say that wearable gadgets are just electronic devices and, as such, are prone to malfunctions. After all, power banks explode, desktops crash, and phones get green lines on displays and bloat/blow up. So why the surprise or extra concern about wearables? Well, the reason is simple – as their name indicates, wearables are worn on our person, and for that reason, are more capable of causing physical injury. You can quickly put away a notebook that is swelling up, but imagine a TWS suddenly melting and getting stuck in your ear, or worse, a pair of smart glasses catching fire when you are wearing them. Apologists might say that the chances of that happening are one in a million, but that is going to be scant consolation to those who suffer – one cannot ignore the loss of life in an aircraft crash by saying that the chances of its happening are about one in a million (they actually are!).
We are not expecting gadget perfection in an imperfect world. All we are asking for is greater caution about wearables in general, simply because they are worn on our person, and in many cases, worn around the clock (like the ring was). Yes, we can get harmed by a smartphone blowing up while we are using it or when it is in our pockets, but even the omnipresent phone spends less time on or near our body than a smartwatch, a fitness band, or a smart ring does. And while wearables so far have been mainly worn on our hands, the future will see them on other parts of our person as well – the Meta Ray-Ban can be worn like prescription glasses, and there is talk of smart belts and foot-based trackers too.
And the Galaxy Ring is not the first high-profile wearable to have issues – Fitbit withdrew the Fitbit Ionic in 2022 after concerns about overheating and burns, and there were reports of a lady losing her hearing when a TWS exploded inside her ear in 2024. Once again, we would like to stress that while these incidents were isolated, they posed significant personal danger to users. In some ways, wearables are almost like self-driving cars – the chances of something going wrong are remote, but when things do go wrong, the consequences are serious.
Hype up wearables, but talk of using them safely too
Which is why we think that, given that it is time that discussions about safety became an integral part of the wearables revolution, just as they are in automobiles. Brands should perhaps spend more time talking about how safe their wearables are, instead of relegating safety regulations and precautions to fine print on websites and notes on booklets. Samsung had, in fact, provided details of how the Galaxy Ring could be removed if it got stuck, but the problem was that, because it was not highlighted, many did not read it. The information exists, but it needs to be brought to the spotlight. We understand that brands might hesitate in doing so as it would make their devices appear unsafe, but given the damage a single errant wearable can cause, we really think that it is the responsible thing to do. Consumers investing in a technology need to know about its possible dangers.
What is the first thing you are told when you board an aircraft? What to do when things go wrong. The much-mimicked and sometimes mocked safety instruction drill of the cabin crew is now an integral part of the flying experience. Safety measures for wearables should get similar treatment, in our opinion. We don’t think they will stop us from investing in wearables, as long as the wearables deliver value. After all, we are still flying in aircraft, aren’t we?