Kaitlyn Cimino/Android Authority
long story short
- According to reports, the new Apple Watch will be available in the fall and will be equipped with blood pressure monitoring functions.
- Apple will join Samsung and a few other brands in offering the feature.
- It appears that this new feature has not yet received FDA approval.
Apple is reportedly developing a new Apple Watch to be launched in the fall that will provide blood pressure monitoring capabilities. Bloomberg Journalist Mark Gurman in his latest newsletter.
Not much else was revealed in the newsletter about the new Apple Watch, which may be called the Apple Watch Series 10 or Series X, but Bloomberg Apple’s overall healthcare strategy for 2023 was previously reported.
Gurman previously reported that the upcoming Apple Watch will use new sensors that will be able to detect and alert users to elevated blood pressure, but will not show users accurate systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. This feature may appear in later versions of Apple Watch.
Unfortunately for current Apple Watch owners, the new features won’t be available on existing models, as they apparently require new sensors to function.
Why it took Apple so long to offer blood pressure monitoring
Apple’s cautious approach to introducing a blood pressure monitoring feature may be due to the U.S. government’s strict regulation of medical technology.
Although it’s easy to find wearable devices that currently offer blood pressure monitoring as a “wellness” feature, most are not FDA-approved. The FDA has strict approval requirements that any device must meet before receiving medical clearance, as incorrect readings can pose serious health risks to users.
Samsung introduced blood pressure monitoring on the Galaxy Watch Active 2 back in 2019, but the company still only sells smartwatch versions without blood pressure monitoring in the United States.
This is the case with most smartwatches that offer blood pressure measurement capabilities, with the only notable exception being the Omron HeartGuide Blood Pressure, which is FDA-approved as a medical device.
Why blood pressure monitoring on Apple Watch matters
Judgments based Bloomberg’According to reports, the first iteration of Apple’s blood pressure monitoring may be a “health” feature, and future versions may receive FDA approval.
If Apple wins FDA approval, the company could potentially bring life-saving technology to the U.S. market, where an estimated half of adults have high blood pressure.
Apple has a history of reinventing existing technologies, bringing them into the mainstream as something revolutionary—just like the iPod, iPad, and Vision Pro. So it will be exciting to see how the company shakes up healthcare technology.