Samsung Explores AI-Powered Wearables: From Smart Earrings to Necklaces

Smart earrings and necklaces? Samsung is looking into new types of wearables

Whatever the company lands on is expected to be a companion device to your phone, rather than a standalone product. Samsung already offers a long list of products in its mobile portfolio, including smartphones, tablets, and more. Still, the company is looking for ways to expand its mobile offerings. To that end, the company sees creating new types of wearables as its opportunity to grow. While speaking with CNN, the COO for Samsung's mobile experience division, Won-joon Choi, told the outlet that AI could enable a new wave of devices that don't require you to take out your phone. Samsung envisions that this wave of devices will be new types of wearables that it has yet to explore, like something you place around your neck, wear on your ears, or put on your face. Outside of smart glasses, you might be wondering what else the tech giant is considering. Samsung is currently "looking at all kinds of possibilities," Choi responded when asked if the company is actively looking into smart jewelry. "What do you wear? Glasses, earrings... necklaces, watches, and rings, something like those," Choi said. While other companies have tried to create AI products designed to replace your phone, like the Humane AI Pin or the Rabbit R1, that won't be the approach Samsung takes. The company reportedly wants its new wearable devices to be a companion to your phone, rather than a replacement or standalone device.

Samsung is exploring smart necklaces, earrings as AI-powered wearables

Samsung already has the smart ring and, coming soon, smart glasses. But what about earrings or necklaces? Samsung's COO for its mobile division Won-joon Choi told CNN that the company is exploring many different form factors for AI-powered wearables. "We believe it should be wearable, something that you shouldn't carry, [that] you don't need to carry," Choi said in an interview. "So it could be something that you wear, glasses, earrings, watches, rings and sometimes [a] necklace. The advancements of AI models that can handle more complex multi-step tasks with voice prompts is a natural fit for the wearable market. Instead of relying on a screen to type or tap, users can increasingly carry out screenless requests with minimal effort. And AI labs are banking on this becoming the future of how we use our gadgets. Samsung has reportedly accelerated its development of AR smart glasses, and teased its XR headset in collaboration with Google, dubbed Project Moohan. But it is also exploring devices beyond glasses and headsets. Choi told CNN that they're looking at all "kinds of possibilities," since some people might not want to wear glasses. OpenAI is also taking this approach with acquisition of iconic Apple designer Jony Ive. Few details are know, even less so since the company is now dealing with a trademark dispute over the name and brand. But leaked memos say the AI companion device is not XR glasses.

Samsung Is Looking into Making AI Necklaces, Earrings, and Other Wearables: 'All Kinds of Possibilities'

Samsung has already introduced smartwatches and smart rings, including a new AI smartwatch released earlier this week. A Samsung executive revealed that the company is looking into a new line of AI wearable devices that double as jewelry, including AI necklaces and earrings. Samsung's chief operating officer for mobile, Won-joon Choi, told CNN this week that the company is actively exploring a category of AI devices that "you don't need to carry," and can instead wear on your person. Related: Samsung's Newest Galaxy Gadget Aims To See 'How Productive You Can Be' "So it could be something that you wear, glasses, earrings, watches, rings, and sometimes a necklace," he explained to the outlet. Samsung is "looking at all kinds of possibilities," he said. Samsung's exploration may not result in products that it brings to market. Tech companies often create prototypes of products that never hit store shelves. Samsung's approach is to introduce devices that supplement phones instead of replacing them, a strategy it employed with its smartwatches and $399 smart ring, according to Choi. The company released a new smartwatch on Wednesday, the Galaxy Watch 8, which is the first smartwatch embedded with Google's Gemini AI. The $299 watch touts advanced fitness tracking, sleep coaching, and stress monitoring. Samsung isn't the only company to recently signal a push into AI devices. Earlier this week, OpenAI closed a $6.5 billion deal to buy io, an AI devices startup co-founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive. The acquisition, the largest yet from OpenAI, brought over io's 55-person team of engineers, designers, and researchers to OpenAI to work on wearable devices infused with ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Meta has experienced unexpected success with its Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses, which have sold over two million pairs since their October 2023 launch. The glasses allow users to ask questions to Meta AI, take pictures and videos, and answer calls. Last month, Meta introduced a waterproof pair of AI smart glasses geared towards athletes, the Oakley Meta glasses, and is reportedly working on another pair of glasses under the Prada brand. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also previewed a prototype of glasses that project 3D avatars of people, or holograms, at the Meta Connect event in September. Related: Meta Invests Billions in World's Largest Eyewear Company After Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Success Other tech companies are following Meta into the smart glasses space. Google stated in May that it was dedicating $150 million to developing AI glasses with Warby Parker, with the new glasses to arrive after 2025. Apple is also reportedly developing its first pair of smart glasses and running focus groups to pinpoint what employees liked about smart glasses from competitors like Meta. Choi told CNN that Samsung is also working on smart glasses, which may launch later this year. However, Choi says that Samsung is seeking to expand into other kinds of devices with more discreet form factors. "We are actively working on glasses, but some people do not want to wear glasses because they change their look," Choi told the outlet. "So we are also exploring other types of devices." Not all AI devices have resonated with consumers. The startup Humane introduced the $699 wearable Ai Pin in April 2024 as a smartphone alternative, but the device, which users could pin to their clothing, fell flat with reviewers due to overheating and lagging responses. Humane shut down the Ai Pin less than a year after its release and sold parts of itself to HP for about $116 million in February.