Ultrahuman Slips Back Into the US With a Redesigned Ring After Oura's Patent Win
A customs ruling cleared the Ring Pro, reopening America's biggest smart-ring market to the brand that lost a trade case last October.
Key takeaways
- Ultrahuman reopened US preorders for its redesigned Ring Pro at $399, with a $349 deal for the first 1,000 buyers.
- US customs found the new design outside an exclusion order that followed Oura's ITC patent win in October 2025.
- IDC data put Oura's US share at about 85% as Ultrahuman fell to low single digits by the end of 2025.
Ultrahuman is back in the US. On March 24 the company reopened preorders for the Ring Pro, a redesigned smart ring that US customs has ruled falls outside the import ban Oura won against it at the International Trade Commission last year.
How it got here
In October 2025 the ITC ruled in Oura's favour, finding that Ultrahuman and RingConn infringed Oura's smart-ring patents and issuing exclusion orders that effectively halted imports of Ultrahuman's rings. Ultrahuman says the restrictions cost it as much as $50 million in lost sales. It responded by redesigning the ring: the Ring Pro uses a new unibody metal structure, along with longer battery life and stronger on-device processing, according to TechCrunch. The company launched it globally in late February, and US Customs and Border Protection approved the redesign less than a month later.
The US price starts at $399. Early preorders go for $349 for the first 1,000 customers, and Ultrahuman says US shipping begins May 15. Some other outlets quoted a higher price, so buyers should check the current listing; the figures here follow TechCrunch's report. The company also maintains that its earlier Ring Air does not infringe and is contesting that point in federal court.
Oura is not conceding. It says the customs decision is limited in scope and is not a final or comprehensive ruling on the new design, and that it is reviewing next steps including appeals and further enforcement. In other words the ring is cleared to be imported, not cleared of risk.
A small but fast-growing market
The prize is meaningful. IDC data cited by TechCrunch put US smart-ring sales at about 2.6 million units in 2025, roughly 60% of a 4.4 million global total and up 59% from the year before. Ultrahuman's US share climbed from 11.5% in 2024 to 24.6% by the second quarter of 2025 before the ban pushed it to low single digits by year-end, while Oura's rose from 63.3% to about 85%. The US accounts for about 45% of Ultrahuman's roughly 700,000 daily active users, which explains why the company chose a redesign and a customs filing over exiting the market.
Elsewhere the picture is weaker. In India, shipments fell 30.6% in 2025, with Ultrahuman leading at 30.4% share and average selling prices down 8.7% to $160. The company's CEO has also hinted at a new wearable tracking a different biomarker, though no details were given, and Ultrahuman expects it could take five to six months to return to full scale in the US.
Why this matters beyond one ring
The case is a template for how patents shape wearable hardware. Oura's '178 patent, covering internal construction, was enough to remove a competitor from US stores, and the workaround was a physical redesign rather than a licence. Samsung, which sells the Galaxy Ring, is in its own legal fight with Oura, and Samsung has sought import restrictions on certain Oura products; I found no outcome for that case. RingConn's position is described inconsistently across reports, with one outlet describing a royalty arrangement and another saying US sales effectively ended.
What the redesign tells us
The Ring Pro is notable as much for how it was built as for what it does. Ultrahuman did not win its patent argument; it avoided it. By changing the internal construction to a unibody metal structure, the company produced a device that US customs treats as different from the one covered by the exclusion order. That is a common pattern in patent disputes, where a design-around is faster and cheaper than waiting for a court to invalidate a patent, but it comes at the cost of redoing manufacturing and certification work.
It also exposes a vulnerability for challengers. Oura has about 85% of the US market by IDC's count, and its patent position gives it leverage that smaller rivals cannot match. A ring needs to be small, so there are few ways to arrange the battery, sensors and circuitry, and any approach that works well may overlap with a prior filing. Anyone entering the market has to plan for legal as well as hardware risk.
What to watch
- Whether Oura appeals the customs decision or pursues new enforcement against the Ring Pro.
- The outcome of Ultrahuman's federal case over the Ring Air.
- The Samsung and Oura dispute and any ITC action involving the Galaxy Ring.
- Whether Ultrahuman regains double-digit US share once shipments start on May 15.
Sources
- Ultrahuman ramps up US push with Ring Pro as Oura tightens grip — TechCrunch
- Oura wins major US trade case against smart ring rivals — Android Central
- Ultrahuman smart rings have just been banned in the US — TechRadar
- Ultrahuman US ban — Android Authority
