Tech giants Samsung and Apple could be incorporating blood glucose monitoring technology into their new smartwatches.
According to Korean tech news portal ETNews, Samsung will launch three new wrist-based wearables - during its Galaxy Unpacked event in the second half of this year - with the tech.
Possible names for these smartwatches are Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 3.
The blood glucose monitoring technology in Samsung's next Galaxy Watch might include an optical blood glucose measurement sensor that does not require the conventional pricking of a person's finger to measure sugar levels in his blood, nor implanting a sensor under the skin to monitor his blood glucose levels.
Apple is also said to be introducing similar blood glucose monitoring tech in its next generation Apple Watch Series 7. The feature is said to be enabled by a non-invasive optical sensor designed by Apple that does not require an implant.
In addition, Apple has reportedly secured patents for blood glucose monitoring and the company is now focusing its efforts on "securing reliability and stability prior to commercialisation of the technology".
CNBC reported in 2017 that Apple had assembled a team of 30 biomedical engineers to work on sensors to monitor blood sugar levels. These sensors can shine a light through the skin to measure glucose.
Tech site BGR made a similar claim that year stating that Apple could introduce interchangeable "smartwatch bands" with different features. One of them was said to be a "game-changing health feature".
As for Samsung, while ETNews did not quote the company directly, the Korean tech firm and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a non-invasive way of monitoring blood sugar levels, with the results published early last year in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's journal Science Advances.
Samsung and Apple's blood glucose monitoring tech stands to benefit Singapore's management of diabetes at a consumer level, provided the smartwatches' technology is approved for use here.
The Government spends more than $1 billion every year to manage diabetes in the population here, and has declared war against the disease since 2016. One million Singapore residents are expected to have diabetes by 2050, according to HealthHub.
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