Ring finally brings 4K video to its battery-powered doorbell camera

Battery-powered doorbells bring better video quality to Ring’s wireless line, which to date has primarily offered 1080p HD resolution. The company says a “redesigned internal architecture” helps support high-resolution video and power-hungry AI features.

The improvement in video resolution will power Ring’s new AI features, providing clearer images to allow devices to capture more detail. The new products also feature Ring’s Retinal Vision, an AI-based capability that sharpens images. Each camera comes with a free trial of Ring AI Pro ($19.99 per month), which gives you access to recorded video as well as all of Ring’s latest AI features.

These include Video Descriptions, which send a text description of what the camera saw, and Ring’s new Familiar Faces, which adds facial recognition to cameras. There’s also AI-powered video search that lets you search for footage of specific events, such as “kids on bikes” or “black cat on porch,” and single event alerts, which send a single combined alert when the camera recognizes similar movement, like someone mowing a lawn.

The goal here is to reduce notification fatigue caused by security cameras and get you the information you need faster. However, recent backlash over Ring’s use of AI in its Search Party feature has sparked suspicion among some users, who fear their video will be processed in Ring’s cloud. There are several security camera companies that offer local video processing and storage if you want to avoid the cloud, including Reolink and Eufy. Another advantage of this option is that you do not need to pay monthly subscription fees.

The new doorbell cameras and accessories are now available for pre-order on Amazon and will launch on April 29.