Today's Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event was crammed with new product announcements, including the first-ever edition of the anticipated Galaxy Ring, new Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 smartphones, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch 7 Ultra, and redesigned Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro. Phew! And that's not even including updates to Samsung software and Galaxy AI features.
Samsung Galaxy phones received updates to bring them up to speed with the Galaxy S24 line, which shipped earlier this year. Both are guaranteed seven years of software upgrades. Samsung also added Circle to Search functionality and support for Google's Gemini virtual assistant.
Read on to learn more about today's Samsung announcements. For more on Galaxy Unpacked, learn whether the new Galaxy Ring will work with iPhones and how it stacks up with the Oura Ring.
New Galaxy Ring is lightweight but pricey
Samsung teased the Galaxy Ring at Mobile World Congress and delivered our initial impressions, but today we got the complete details and a deeper hands-on experience. The Android ring is pricey at $400, but unlike its cheaper competitor, the Oura Ring Gen 3, it doesn't require a subscription. It does require a Galaxy phone for more personalized AI health analysis. Preorders start July 24.
Battery life ranges between six and seven days, depending upon size, and the transparent case can hold 1.5 charges.
Rather than list all the features here -- since it's new, there are a lot -- I'll direct you to our Galaxy Ring hands-on for the full scoop. In addition to a plethora of health-related tracking, including sleep tools, it supports a finger-tap gesture in conjunction with a Galaxy phone or Watch, similar to Apple's Double Tap. And the Ring works with the Find app, which should come in handy when you inevitably lose it.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 sports a stronger hinge.
Galaxy Z Fold 6 gets a bigger and brighter screen
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 introduces a number of changes, including a bigger front screen, an upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, improved cooling (for gaming), brighter screen (2,600 nits) and a new 12-megapixel sensor for the ultrawide camera with better low-light sensitivity. It also incorporates a stronger hinge and some changes to the screen to improve the smoothness of the crease and durabiity. It supports ray tracing and Vulkan optimization, and it has a smaller bezel, all in the name of better gaming. There's also a price increase: It now starts at $1,900. You can preorder starting today and it's slated to ship July 24.
There are also new software capabilities, including several new Galaxy AI features, which we are seeing a lot in cameras and laptops, albeit under different names. They include Portrait Studio (which restyles an image, for example as a watercolor), a tool which uses generative AI to add sketched objects to images, autosuggestion of words when writing, a Conversation mode which uses the two screens to show a translation on one and the original on the second and more.
Galaxy Z Flip 6 adds a 50-megapixel main camera
As with the Z Fold 6, Samsung has updated the screen design of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 to make the crease less visible. It's also garnered an upgraded 50-megapixel main camera and the same upgraded 12-megapixel ultrawide as the Z Fold 6, plus a larger 4,000 mAh battery. In addition, it gets the same processor and vapor chamber (better cooling for gaming) upgrades as the other device. It enters preorder today, with a slightly higher starting price than its predecessor: $1,100.
Flip-specific new features include auto zoom, which detects subjects when shooting while the phone is in Flex mode and autoframes them. You can now put multiple widgets on the cover screen, and it can suggest responses based on previous messages when texting. It also comes with wallpapers that change with the time or the weather.
Galaxy Watch Ultra and Watch 7 include sleep apnea detection
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra comes out as the rugged Android competitor for the pricier Apple Watch Ultra 2. At $650, it's Samsung's most expensive, too. Samsung has squircled the design, used a faster processor than that of other models, included sleep apnea detection that's authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration, and focused on durability for outdoor use. It's made of titanium and comes in gray, white or silver.
There's a redesigned bioactive sensor to support the heart rate sensor, electrical heart rate signal and bioimpedance sensor, which measures body composition. The company claims it's more accurate than earlier Galaxy Watches for a bunch of the readings it takes. There's expanded workout capabilities over other Watch models, plus a 4-minute cycling-specific functional threshold power test, which extrapolates to the maximum level of intensity you can maintain for an hour.
It runs Wear OS 5 and incorporates a dual-frequency GPS for better accuracy.
The band-attachment mechanism has been streamlined, but it also means older bands won't work on this watch and vice versa. Battery life is rated at between 48 and 100 hours, depending upon the type of usage.
The cheaper $300 Galaxy Watch 7 comes with up to 32GB storage. Storage options have doubled compared to the Galaxy Watch 6, so you can now get up to 32GB which is helpful if you like to store music on your watch or load up on apps.
Both Watches have ECG, irregular HR notifications and Samsung's bioimpedance sensor, for body composition data. sleep apnea detection and the new bioactive sensor.
Galaxy AI drives an Energy Score and personalized health tips, and when paired with a relevant phone can analyze incoming messages and give tonally appropriate suggested replies in the Messages app and WhatsApp.
Read more: Best Galaxy Watch Deals
Both the Galaxy Buds Pro 3 (left) and Galaxy Buds 3 come in silver or white.
Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro add stems like AirPods
The two new Galaxy Buds models now have stems like Apple's AirPods. And the Buds 3, which replace the Buds Live, have a similar open design. They support pinch and swipe controls, ear detection for when you remove or insert them and voice command for playback. Samsung says they'll run up to 6 hours -- less with ANC enabled -- and support shareable Bluetooth audio and some basic splash resistance, among other features like transparency mode.
If you want noise isolation or the ability to choose ear tips, higher quality ANC and environmentally aware volume leveling and better sound (it has an independent tweeter and dual amps) that'll be the Pro.
Both have three mics and pretrained voice models for AI-boosted call quality. They also have integrations with Galaxy devices, such as automatic pairing and switching, as well as an AI-driven interpreter feature.
The Buds 3 are $180 while the Pro are $250. You can preorder them now and they ship July 24.