Apple Watch could become a medical device for diabetics
Apple is working on a way to measure blood sugar levels, potentially turning the Apple Watch into a must-have device for millions of diabetics, according to CNBC citing anonymous sources.
If successful, the technology will be integrated into a future version of the Apple Watch to help people with diabetes manage their condition, but this rumored project could send the Apple into a much more complicated realm of biomedical devices.
Ideally, Apple will develop a non-invasive way to measure blood sugar levels, as opposed to devices commonly used now that require need pricks. The technology could be similar to optical heart rate monitors found on many fitness trackers, which send light through the skin to measure heart rate.
The effort to develop blood sugar-sensing technology was born from deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' hope to make smartwatches that monitor vital signs.
There are a number of practical issues to overcome, including the fact that using optical sensors to read blood glucose is hard. The world is littered with the bodies of companies that have tried, and failed, to use noninvasive monitoring for this particular issue.
Right now, the only effective way to continuously monitor someone's blood glucose level is by inserting a sensor below the skin. Continuous glucose monitors often use an internal sensor that connects with an external transmitter that's held, for instance, on the stomach, tricep or thigh.
An Apple Watch for diabetics wouldn’t eliminate the need for insulin shots, it would eliminate the finger pricking to draw blood for testing multiple times per day. It also would eliminate the need to carry around the blood glucose testing kit and the ongoing purchase of testing strips.
Diabetes management is a hugely profitable target. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has been working on a smart contact lens project since 2014. This involves embedded glucose sensors, but has yet to result in a commercial product.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization, there were 422 million people living with diabetes in 2014. That's up from 108 million in 1980, a staggering increase for a disease that is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, stroke and heart attacks. In addition, the better part of four million deaths per year can be directly attributed to diabetes-related conditions.
Apple Watch sales have been fine, but not spectacular. The company remains firmly in the lead for smartwatch sales, and has made concerted effort to steer its wearable more into health and fitness territory, with a resulting sales bump — in Q4 2016 it sold a record 4.6 million units.
That could be the feature that finally turns Apple Watch into a “must-have” device, with hundreds of millions of people globally who would suddenly have a real reason to want to buy one.