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Remember when smartwatches were clunky and ugly? Our health-tracking Apple or Google Pixel Watches aren’t transforming into Rolexes anytime soon, but smartwatches and their siblings — smart rings and fitness bands — have come a long way from their early days.
Also: CES 2026: Live updates
Recent design and chip upgrades make these wearables slimmer, lighter, and more appealing to a general audience — resulting in jewelry you’d actually want to wear. I’ve been on the ground at CES over the past few days, and I’ve found some great examples of established and up-and-coming brands alike making beautiful devices. Here are a few.
One common complaint or purchasing deterrent I hear from people interested in smart rings is how chunky the rings are around a finger. When I wear smart rings on my middle finger, it’s nearly impossible to push my index and ring fingers together because of the sheer thickness of the ring.
But when I saw the Yuwell Smart Ring at CES, I was struck by its thinness and its weight, and convinced that we’re nearing toward a future where smart rings really are lighter, thinner, and more comfortable to wear.
One of my favorite smart rings I saw at CES isn’t a health tracker. Pebble’s Index 01 wraps around your finger, costs $75, and remembers all kinds of stuff you’d forget. How does it do it? The device is fitted with a small microphone you press to activate, and then you tell it information or request it to fulfill tasks for you, like reminding you to refill that nearly empty shampoo bottle in the shower, or adding a book recommendation from a friend to your to-read list.
Also: This smart ring helps you remember the things you often forget
I saw Pebble’s CEO, Eric Migicovsky, perform a live demo with the Index 01, and found that it could interpret requests and translate them into actions quickly. It could also pick up audio in crowded environments, like a show floor, and whispers. The requests the user speaks into the device show up in the Pebble app, but users can also connect other apps, like the Apple Reminders app, Google Calendar, Notion, and more.
This is one product I can’t wait to get my hands on and test out for myself.
The Luna Band is like a more discreet Whoop — and this fitness band doesn’t come with a subscription (something Whoop can’t say for itself). The new smart fitness band arrives with a unique audio integration with Siri that enables instant mood and environment logging without having to open the app. A Luna representative explains how this audio logging makes it easy to provide further context to your biological data gathered through the band, which measures, activity, steps, sleep, and more.
Also: New Luna Band offers voice-led health tracking
It’s easy to see that your heart rate lowered late on a sleep chart, but unless you are diligent about logging every single activity, you can rarely look back at this data and understand what behavior impacted that physiological data. Talking to Siri about what you’re doing each day, the foods and drinks you’re consuming, or your moods can provide more context and connect behaviors to physiological responses.
Blink and you’d think this fitness tracker is a bracelet. Nope, it’s a fitness tracker that can perform AI blood glucose risk assessments, biological age analysis, sleep analysis, temperature and 24/7 heart monitoring. And, because it’s 2026 and no health wearable comes without an AI health assistant, J-Style includes one in the Aura V10 as well.
Finally, we’re getting a health-tracking smart ring that uses NFC tech to pay, unlock doors, and more. The one-tap control works on Dreame smart home appliances. Other functionalities, like multi-card support for transit cards and building access, are available using the NFC ring. You can also use the smart ring to unlock your car.
The best part about Pebble’s second-generation smartwatch is how analog it looks. That e-paper display of the Pebble Round 2 certainly helps the vibe — so does its ultra-thin build. The watch boasts a ten-day battery life, a wider display (great for reading messages), and a thin form factor that’s nearly as thin as the first-generation watch.
Also: Pebble’s new e-paper smartwatch is for enthusiasts who want the analog feel
Migicovsky intentionally created a smartwatch that didn’t have it all, sacrificing some more extensive health tracking mechanisms (the watch only records sleep and steps) to make a watch that casual wearers would enjoy and not have to take off and charge every few days.
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