Cramming various health-focused features on an Apple Watch is a Herculean task, but the technology giant has successfully managed to add a couple, such as ECG, and they have been life savers, literally. However, this is not the end of the road for Apple as it aims to expand its health feature portfolio, though its efforts have been unable to bear fruit, at least for now.
One addition that the company has been working on for years is blood glucose monitoring, and despite numerous setbacks, a new report states that the firm made major milestones with it. The only problem is that there is no telling if the feature will debut in the upcoming Apple Watch Series X or the Apple Watch Ultra 3.
Patent wars with Masimo over blood oxygen monitor may have stalled Apple’s plans to expand its health feature list for its wearable range
In a previous report, we talked about how the Apple Watch Series X would not only feature display size upgrades compared to the Apple Watch Series 9 but also a new SoC. Unfortunately, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman does not mention anything about the new lineup getting treated to newer sensors or a design overhaul, suggesting that the upcoming models may not offer much as far as additional health-related sensors go. However, that does not mean that Apple has not made progress with blood glucose monitoring, as that is said to be its long-term goal.
After all, the feature is said to have been in development for about a decade, and even though it was reported last year that blood glucose monitoring could be up to seven years away, there is a chance that we will see it earlier. However, Apple will have to put its plans into overdrive mode because its biggest rival in the smartphone space, Samsung, also has lofty ambitions in expanding its health-technology product range. The Korean behemoth aims to bring non-invasive blood glucose monitoring before Apple, which might not appear to be a positive look for the latter.
However, introducing the feature is one thing, and getting it to work accurately on a device already jammed with a myriad of sensors is another entirely. It is also possible that Apple’s patent violation skirmish with Masimo may have stalled its development plans, but let us hope that we hear some positive news later this year.
