After years of development, Apple seems ready to take a new step in the health monitoring industry with its smartwatch.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Watch 11 and Watch Ultra 3 models will get a blood pressure monitoring feature.
Rumors about the introduction of this technology have been circulating for many years. Previously, the launch of the option was postponed due to technical difficulties, but now, as reported, all obstacles have been overcome.
The option is expected to work differently on the Apple Watch than traditional methods of measuring blood pressure using cuffs. Instead of inflating a cuff to get accurate readings, «apple» devices will use a less cumbersome approach using built-in sensors.
You should pay attention to the name of the feature — High Blood Pressure Detection. This probably means that the watch will notify you only when elevated readings are detected. They are unlikely to be able to provide accurate values.
Although it may seem a little disappointing, this feature is still extremely useful. Measuring blood pressure is a rather complicated process, and many people live with undetected hypertension for years. Simply by putting on an Apple Watch, they will be able to find out about their condition in time.
Previous Apple Watch models will most likely not support the new feature. For its operation, changes to existing sensors or a new sensor module are required. Implementation through an update is unlikely to be possible.
By the way, this is far from a new feature for a watch. For example, Huawei Watch D2 with a cuff, the measurement is performed in just 30 seconds. Moreover, they determine the risk zone based on indicators, so you don't even need to figure out which values are normal and which indicate high blood pressure.