The ever-evolving Apple Watch is rumored to be getting more health monitoring features in 2024, with three new sensors that could alert users to the risk of diabetes, detect increased blood pressure and detect sleep apnea.
Apple’s core health and fitness product, these wearables have received health-focused improvements in recent years, with innovations such as a fertility monitoring tool and a body temperature sensor. Since the beginning of this year, the company has also been working on the aforementioned points.
The AI-powered health coach, which can design custom health plans based on biometric and behavioral data collected by the watch, is an indication that Apple wants to stretch its arms even further in the billion-dollar healthcare industry.
Such innovations also show that watches can play a bigger role in early diagnosis and monitoring in the future.
The device’s blood glucose monitoring system will warn users if they are prediabetic with a special non-invasive beam projected from the sensor onto the skin. It should be emphasized that the device will not provide actual blood glucose measurements to users already diagnosed with diabetes.
The blood pressure sensor will be able to detect when a user’s blood pressure is elevated and will be accompanied by a ‘blood pressure diary’ (similar to Apple’s other personal tracking services) to help track external factors that lead to hypertension. It’s worth noting that this feature won’t be able to show the user full systolic and diastolic readings for therapeutic purposes.
The new sleep apnea sensor will build on the watch’s existing sleep monitoring tools, measuring breathing patterns during sleep to predict whether a user has the condition and also make recommendations on when to see a doctor.
Regarding the company’s health plans, Bloomberg reports that new Apple Watch features could be introduced alongside the launch of a subscription-based, AI-powered health service. However, insiders say Apple’s larger goal of “revolutionizing healthcare” is still very much in the future. All of these “new” features are already available, for example, in Huawei’s new line of smartwatches. The new features, which have not yet been approved by Apple, are reportedly under development within Apple’s design group.
Apple’s foray into the health sector is part of a broader company strategy to move users away from disposable ecosystems and towards a one-stop shop model for health technology, but the Apple Watch’s previous enhancements raise multi-factor concerns. Chief among these are data bias, which will affect accuracy, and potential privacy issues.
