Ultrahuman's return to the US market reads like a textbook case study in the cost of intellectual property disputes. The Indian smart ring maker is back, opening US preorders for its redesigned Ring Pro after spending eight months locked out of its second-largest revenue source. The financial damage is stark: according to CEO Mohit Kumar, those months of forced absence cost the company up to $50 million in lost sales.
That money matters. Ultrahuman is currently operating at an annualized revenue run rate of about $150 million, having reported $64 million in operating revenue in the financial year ended March 2025. A $50 million hit represents meaningful damage to a mid-scale health tech startup. But the worse pain is structural: Oura's share climbed from 63.3% to 85%, capturing most of the ground lost by Ultrahuman during those eight critical months.
The path back won't be quick. Ultrahuman plans to ramp up its U.S. rollout immediately, with Kumar saying it could take five to six months to reach full scale as the company rebuilds its supply chain and distribution. That timeline assumes no further legal complications, and given the ongoing patent dispute with Finnish competitor Oura, that assumption carries risk. Oura said the CBP decision was limited in scope and did not resolve its broader patent disputes with Ultrahuman, adding that it is reviewing the ruling and evaluating next steps, including potential appeals and additional enforcement options.
The Ring Pro's specs do offer genuine competitive positioning. Ultrahuman has opened U.S. preorders for the Ring Pro, with shipping set to begin on May 15, with the device starting at $399 and early preorders priced at $349 for the first 1,000 customers. Battery life reaches up to 15 days on a single charge, extending to more than 45 days when paired with the new Pro Charging Case. The hardware carries a titanium unibody design, a redesigned heart rate sensing system and a dual-core processor that's said to enable more accurate insights through on-device machine learning.
What matters more to consumers than battery specs, though, is pricing and the subscription question. Once you factor in the $5.99 monthly Oura subscription fee, after roughly a year of use, the two devices cost about the same. Unlike Oura, Ultrahuman doesn't charge a subscription fee to access core health metrics, rather offering the basics for free, including some upgraded tools called PowerPlugs with features like ovulation tracking, along with advice on things like when to consume caffeine and how to optimize your vitamin D absorption from the sun; some other PowerPlugs do come with an added fee, including AFib detection, respiratory health monitoring, migraine insights, GLP-1 tracking, real-time biointelligence with Jade AI, and integrated mental health support with BetterHelp.
The US market context makes this fight fierce. The U.S. remains the most critical market for smart rings, accounting for about 2.6 million units sold in 2025—roughly 60% of the global total of 4.4 million units—and growing 59% year-over-year. For Ultrahuman, the stakes are personal: The U.S. accounted for about 45% of Ultrahuman's roughly 700,000 daily active users worldwide. Lose that ground permanently, and the company's growth story becomes decidedly smaller.
The broader question is whether IP disputes are becoming an acceptable tool for market dominance. The smart ring market has consolidated rapidly, with Oura expanding its dominance in recent quarters as Ultrahuman's share fell sharply during the period of import restrictions. Samsung, RingConn, and others have also faced Oura's legal arsenal. The Finnish company has moved aggressively, using US International Trade Commission proceedings as a weapon that rivals can't easily counter. One import ban later, and market shares shift dramatically in your favour.
Ultrahuman's comeback hinges on speed and execution. The patent dispute won't go away, and margin pressure from litigation costs will persist. But in a market growing by double digits globally, being locked out for eight months is a luxury no company can afford. The Ring Pro's engineering and pricing offer a genuine alternative to Oura. Whether Ultrahuman can rebuild what it lost remains the real test.