Circular announces Ring 3 Pro and Slim at IFA with contactless payments and haptic alerts

Circular has announced the Ring 3 Pro and Ring 3 Slim at IFA in Berlin, adding contactless payments and haptic alerts, with no price or release date given. The Pro’s ECG and atrial fibrillation detection is described as FDA cleared, and EU medical device rules require a separate conformity assessment that American clearance does not satisfy.

Circular has announced two new smart rings at IFA in Berlin. The Ring 3 Pro and Ring 3 Slim add contactless payments and haptic alerts, CNET reported.

There is no price and no release date. The company says both will follow in the coming months, along with preorder timing. It has not said whether either ring reaches Europe first.

The Pro carries the medical feature. It has an electrocardiogram and atrial fibrillation detection, which the company describes as cleared by the FDA. The Slim has neither.

That clearance is American, and this is a Paris company launching in Germany. The distinction is not cosmetic.

Europe has its own gate for this. Under the Medical Device Regulation an ECG offered for detecting arrhythmia is a medical device needing a CE mark.

Intended purpose decides it rather than the technology. What the manufacturer claims the feature is for determines the classification, down to the marketing and the interface.

FDA authorisation carries no weight in that assessment. TNW covered the FDA-cleared sensor on the previous ring, and no CE marking claim has been published since.

The softer metrics raise the same question. Blood pressure trends and glucose trend estimates are presented as wellness features rather than diagnostic ones.

That line is drawn tighter in Europe than in America. If a claim implies monitoring a condition, calling it wellness does not settle the classification.

The hardware itself is conventional enough. Titanium on the Pro and coated resin on the Slim, with up to 12 days of battery against 10. The Slim is 5.9mm wide and 2.35mm thick, close to Oura’s smallest ring.

The commercial position is less comfortable than the launch suggests. Oura takes royalties on every US Circular sale under a patent agreement, TNW reported.

Circular’s pitch is that everything stays subscription-free. Its Kira AI companion is included, though some advanced medical features appear in the app marked “limited time“.

Which leaves the European question unasked. A French company launched a medical feature in Berlin on an American clearance, and its status here is not stated anywhere.