Patent Filing Suggests Apple May Be Working on a New Healthcare Wearable
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A new patent filing by Apple, submitted on August 11, describes a wearable designed to acquire and process electrocardiographic measurements regardless of where on the body it is placed.
The wearable is activated when the user presses on a surface electrode, according to AppleInsider. What’s nifty about the device is that it automatically identifies where on the body it is being worn, adjusts its health measurements and data, after a short calibration period.
As AppleInsider notes, the patent filing only features a stock graphic of a generic wearable providing little insight as to what the new tech will look like. There is also little to suggest in the filing that this heart monitoring tech would incorporated into the Apple Watch line at a later point.
This news comes days after a rumor surfaced in Taiwan’s Economic Daily Times that Apple would launch an entirely new healthcare-monitoring device that “accurately collect users’ personal daily life including heart rate, pulse, blood sugar changes and other information” in 2017. The outlet noted that the device would use Apple’s pressure sensing 3D touch technology and that it would work with the health features in the 2017 iPhone to revolutionize the healthcare tech world.
The Economic Daily Times also noted that major Apple manufacturers based in Taiwan, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Foxconn, TPK, Zhen Ding Technology, among others, had already signed on to developing this revolutionary healthcare device.
Apple Insider also notes that back in November 2015 Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the Food and Drug Administration’s health regulations for impeding innovation and argued that the regulatory administration was too slow to grant approval.
All of this suggests that Apple has big plans in store for healthcare and health-monitoring tech, in a wearable form factor.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
