Apple would have found a way to offer blood sugar monitoring on its future Apple Watch. A leak revealed the technology on which the brand would work to achieve this. Non-invasive monitoring of blood sugar levels would be made possible using a laser.
According Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple has made significant progress in developing a non-invasive blood sugar monitoring device. The brand has reportedly created a working iPhone-sized prototype that can be strapped to a user’s wrist or arm. The device would use a detection method under the skin to detect the level of sugar in the blood.
Apple Watch: Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring using a laser
The source added that Apple achieved this by using a custom photonic chip that projects a laser onto and under the skin. The light will thus be converted into heat on contact with the glucose in the blood. The amount of heat generated will be sent back to the chip placed on a connected watch or other device capable of analyzing the data and presenting the corresponding result.
Although this is a significant milestone for Apple, according to Mark Gurman the company would like to further reduce the device’s footprint to the size of a wearable device such as an Apple Watch. However, given the complex nature of monitoring blood sugar under the skin, it could take a few more years before Apple achieves this goal.
Apple’s new patent for blood pressure monitoring shows a non-invasive design. / © Patently Apple
In addition to launching non-invasive blood sugar tracking technology on its smartwatches, Apple is reportedly working to integrate blood pressure tracking.
Several clues have been found in the patents filed by the Cupertino company. The most notable of these uses pressure sensing units along the watch band to detect pressure changes in blood flow. So far, it’s unclear when this feature might come to the Apple Watch.
What do you think about the possibility of having blood glucose monitoring on smartwatches? What breakthrough feature are you most looking forward to in smartwatches?
