Apple Working on New Health-Tracking Hardware for 2017

[MacRumors]

Apple is developing at least one new health-tracking product that could debut alongside the tenth-anniversary iPhone in 2017, according to Economic Daily News (via Mac Otakara).

Exact details are hard to discern from the translated Chinese-language report, but Apple is said to have invested two years of R&D into the new product in it health laboratories overseen by Apple's health and fitness director Jay Blahnik.

While entirely new hardware is possible, the product could realistically be a next-generation Apple Watch. The product is said to have an array of health-related apps that collect data such as heart rate, pulse, and blood sugar changes.

Health and fitness has been a focus for Apple in recent years with ResearchKit, HealthKit, and the Apple Watch. In a recent interview, when asked what he believes the "next frontiers" will be when it comes to product development, Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted health as "the biggest one of all."

Article Link: Apple Working on New Health-Tracking Hardware for 2017

 

[JaySoul]

Makes sense.

Biodata is going to be a huge market going forward, and the Apple Watch is out of reach for most people.

A simpler health/fitness tracker which is positioned between a Fitbit Blaze and the Apple Watch would sell bucketloads and be extremely useful.

 

[nightcap965]

How is this different from the current Health app that already tracks heart rate, pulse, and blood sugar changes?

 

[now i see it]

The pedometer in the iPhone isn't very accurate. To the point that the steps recorded aren't very useful in determining anything. There's a lot of hope surrounding this health app stuff but not too much accuracy.

 

[Exile714]

Heart rate, pulse, blood sugar...

Heart rate is already well done on Apple Watch.

Pulse... is pretty much a synonym for heart rate.

Blood sugar is a stretch, since companies have been struggling to create an accurate reader which doesn't require actual blood. That alone would be worth the cost of an Apple Watch for diabetic patients.

 

[joueboy]

That's going to be on the Apple Watch Pro!

 

[bitslap47]

Not just here, but all over, I see the quality of written text when reporting continuing to decline. I guess there is no such thing as a true editor anymore...

 

[filmantopia]

How is this different from the current Health app that already tracks heart rate, pulse, and blood sugar changes?

That's software, not hardware.

 

[alazhaarp]

Uh.. Okay.. But you're still actually working on Macs too right? Right? Riiight?

 

[iamgalt]

Heart rate, pulse, blood sugar...

Pulse... is pretty much a synonym for heart rate.

When I first read the article, my first question was "why are they listing the same feature twice". Glad to see I'm not the only one who picked up on that.

 

[Sunny1990]

Will they add blood sugar monitor in to the apple watch if so then this will be really helpful for the diabetes patients to manage their blood sugar levels

 

[smizzle]

I would love for them to make a regular health tracker that was cheaper than the Apple Watch and just focused on fitness tracking and notifications.

 

[2457282]

In the old health app, you could see your stats for today, week, month and year. in the PB, it only shows today. Not sure if connected, but the app may be making room for something. The current app does not track blood sugar without a different device to send data. So maybe they are incorporating a blood sugar monitor into the watch (highly doubtful).

 

[jonnysods]

The health app is a pretty regularly used app on my phone in combination with my AW. I really enjoy tracking steps, km's ridden on my bike, and a whack of other activities. So I can beat my previous week!

 

[centauratlas]

Maybe they meant "pulse oximeter" instead of pulse and it was translated wrong?

 

[BMcCoy]

If Apple, or anyone else, can figure out noninvasive transcutaneous blood glucose monitoring, that is reliable and precise, that will definitely transform healthcare globally, not just for people with diabetes, but for many other situations where we check blood glucose levels.
I'm not sure how it will be possible.. it would need some new invention of technology.. but wow.. that would be amazing. (And would catapult Apple into the heart of cutting edge healthcare).

 

[Sandstorm]

Seems like lately everything awesome/innovative from Apple is always a year or two away. We've been hearing about awesome product pipeline, amazing stuff coming, but basically nothing materializes (besides some uninspired existing product rehashes or even plain discontinuations/abandonments).

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Heart rate, pulse, blood sugar...

Heart rate is already well done on Apple Watch.

Pulse... is pretty much a synonym for heart rate.

Blood sugar is a stretch, since companies have been struggling to create an accurate reader which doesn't require actual blood. That alone would be worth the cost of an Apple Watch for diabetic patients.

When I first read the article, my first question was "why are they listing the same feature twice". Glad to see I'm not the only one who picked up on that.

Maybe some sort of a translation error

 

[wigby]

The pedometer in the iPhone isn't very accurate. To the point that the steps recorded aren't very useful in determining anything. There's a lot of hope surrounding this health app stuff but not too much accuracy.

So if a more accurate pedometer recorded every single step you took, how would that determine anything more? No pedometers are accurate because no pedometer needs to be accurate. They're not like real calories, they are simply measuring sticks so you can compare day to day, not measuring stick to measuring stick.

 

[bradkrischel]

Original article describes the new health product as "killer"

 

[thasan]

No pokehealth feature? dang!
[doublepost=1470752809][/doublepost]now thats funny... "devasatating power" ... lol
"
According to Economic Daily News, Apple mentions that in connection with IoT in 2017, it is preparing for the announcement of the new smart home terminal that have the devastating power that is equal to that of iPhone release.

"

 

[honglong1976]

Yes! Please! Kill Fitbit!

 

[Romy90210]

Correction: BI now reporting that this device has been pushed to 2027. Samsung set to release the same Hardware running Android this December.... Im So confused...

 

[webbuzz]

Maybe they meant "pulse oximeter" instead of pulse and it was translated wrong?

That would be awesome.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

How is this different from the current Health app that already tracks heart rate, pulse, and blood sugar changes?

The article does not mention anything about an app - On the contrary, it talks about hardware.