Source: Hackaday
The article identifies a structural problem in wearable miniaturization: manufacturers are trading repairability for form factor. Once a smart ring's battery or sensor fails, there's no economical path to fix it—consumers discard and rebuy. This creates tension between the connected device industry's expansion into body-worn form factors and the physical constraints of repair. The engineering required to make rings thin and seamless actively prevents the modular design needed for serviceability. As smart rings move from niche to mainstream (Samsung, Oura, Amazon), this throwaway economics becomes material: each failed device represents e-waste, customer churn, and a cost that marketing doesn't surface.