Why the Oura Ring 5’s new charging case is a big mistake?

The Ora Ring 5 is finally official, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I’ve been a fan of the company’s smart rings since I tried the Ring 3 and wore it every day until the excellent Ring 4 launched, so I made the switch. It’s been on my finger ever since and the Ring 5 is everything I wanted it to be. A smaller profile, blood pressure signal monitoring and a more resistant design to avoid all the scratches of previous rings.

This is all excellent, but Ora is making a big mistake with its Ring 5, and it has nothing to do with the ring itself, but rather the way we charge it.

When Aura launched its Aura Ring 4 Charging Case earlier this year, the price tag on it was completely justified. After all, this was a new accessory to be added to the portfolio that would be purchased by users as an addition on top of their existing Ring 4 and charging puck. The $99 price tag was still a bit steep, but it was almost worth it for a first-time foray into charging cases.

However, Ora has now gone with the same strategy with the Ora Ring 5 as well. Despite the $399 price tag, the new Ring will come with a default puck charger out of the box. To get the charging case, you’ll once again have to pay an additional $99. This is an absolutely foolish decision. Obviously, Oura stands to make more money if users decide to spend money on the case. But, in terms of marketing, comparisons between Oura and its competitors are becoming increasingly absurd.

Here are the details of what the competition is offering:

And here’s what Ora is offering:

• Ora Ring 5: $399 without charging case
• $99 for the case if you want
• Plus the almost required $69.99 annual subscription

Certainly, the case promises more practical charging since you can have it in a pocket or bag, without having to place the ring on a flat surface above the puck. It has a built-in battery for one month of use, can be charged wirelessly, and offers location and tracking features to find a lost case. This is overall an excellent addition to the Ora Ring 5, but $99 is a steep price on top of the starting price and required subscription.

Regardless of how much I personally love Ora and will always say the best things about it, its impressive app, its strict Finnish and European privacy policies, and all the developments and excellent features the company has added over the years, I still can’t justify the decision to charge separately for the case over the second generation case.

What makes it worse is that it definitely won’t be compatible with the Aura Ring 6 in a few years, so this is a short-term product that you’ll have to buy once, and recycle or throw away once you retire the Aura Ring 5 in a few years. I don’t like it at all.

I completely understand that there’s a price to pay for all of Oura’s features and improvements, for its ongoing support, and for its firm privacy position, but I think if the company didn’t want to lose too much in the charging case, some steps could have been taken to minimize it.

One solution would have been to offer the case for pre-order for free or at a reduced price. Do you want to be one of the first to own an Aura Ring 5? You get the charging case as a perk or as an upgrade!

Another would have been to give users the option of purchasing the Oura Ring 5 with a puck or case. The base variant may be priced at $399, while the upgraded version with charging case may cost $449. At least this will reduce e-waste for those who just want the case and take a few pennies off the initial asking price.

Oura had options to make this foolish decision against all of its competitors to be less foolish, but it stuck to its guns, and I think this is the worst and most anti-consumer move the company has taken in the last four years.