The Apple Watch's Biggest Weakness Makes the Best Case for an Apple Ring

The Apple Watch's Biggest Weakness: Battery Life is the Problem, Not the Solution

The Apple Watch is the most accurate wearable I've tested, but its battery life is holding it back. It's still the most accurate wearable I've tested, but needing to recharge it daily means it often gets stuck on a charger overnight, which is when some of the most valuable health metrics are collected. As wearables increasingly compete on long-term health insights instead of workout stats alone, battery life is Apple's biggest weakness.

Smart Rings: The Missing Piece to Solving the Problem

Smart rings like the Oura Ring and screenless bands like the Whoop and Fitbit Air have carved out a niche by doing the opposite of the Apple Watch: disappearing. They stay on your body for a week or more at a time, collecting health trends that a smartwatch misses while it's sitting on a charger. I've tested dozens of wearables, and recommend the Apple Watch over other smartwatches because it consistently comes out on top in my heart rate testing. But despite years of trying, I've never managed to wear one to bed consistently.

Can the Apple Watch Have its Cake and Eat it Too?

There are battery advancements trickling down the pipe. Silicon-carbon-based battery technologies -- which allow for more battery capacity without increasing its size -- could eventually make their way from phones to a wearable like the Apple Watch. More efficient processors like Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear Elite also promise incremental battery gains for this year's wearables. Apple uses its own chipsets, but it's likely taking notes. Even those improvements aren't likely to push the Apple Watch anywhere near the week-long battery life that Garmin watches, smart rings and screenless fitness bands deliver on. At least not anytime soon.