Don't expect any new Apple Watch sensors any time soon, says Gurman

By Oliver Haslam
published

Apple Watch sensors
Apple Watch sensors (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple Watch Series 8 is reportedly unlikely to get new sensors.
  • Blood pressure monitoring, blood sugar monitoring, and more are likely years away.

The Apple Watch Series 7 might not be very old but attention is already turning to what comes next — and according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, whatever Apple Watch Series 8 has to offer is unlikely to include any new sensors.

In fact, don't expect some of the most exciting new sensors to arrive for a number of years.

Writing as part of the weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman notes that Apple continues to work to bring a blood sugar monitor, temperature monitor, and blood pressure monitor to a future Apple Watch. However, none of those are likely to make it to production in 2022 with at least one likely to be multiple years away from production.

Don't expect any of these soon, though. Body temperature was on this year's roadmap, but chatter about it has slowed down recently. Blood pressure is at least two to three years away, while I wouldn't be surprised if glucose monitoring doesn't land until later in the second half of the decade

The arrival of a blood pressure monitor would be a huge deal for Apple Watch while the same can absolutely be said for a blood sugar monitor as well. Both sensors would potentially help Apple Watch to save lives, just as the current heart rate sensor has been able to.

While the best Apple Watch has only been on sale for a few months, time doesn't stand still and Apple will already be working to lock in the features that will make up Apple Watch Series 8. Here's hoping we get that Apple Watch redesign that was rumored for last year's model, too.

Apple is expected to launch a refreshed Apple Watch SE this year, while a rugged Apple Watch is something that continues to be rumored heavily.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

2 Comments
  • Another factor that everyone who owns an Apple Watch should be familiar with is that any new sensors also require two or three iterations to become usefull. Typically a new sensor is introduced and the first year it's on a sort of "tester" basis, often requires the user to press a button to use it, and is not continuous or anything close to it. Two (or sometimes three) hardware iterations later it's a continuous sensor that's actually pretty accurate and automatic. This is because in addition to hardware versioning on the sensors, it's also necessary to get a couple of years worth of DATA from Apple Watch users in order to properly calibrate the sensor. Everyone who owns an Apple Watch or watched the industry for as long should know this although it's rearely if ever reported. New sensors *always* take YEARS, and they take a couple *more* years after they are introduced to actually become useful or reliable. The product that people *believe* Apple Watch to be today and the product that Apple is trying to *sell* people today, will actually exist ... in about ten years. Minimum.
  • Brilliant! Typical Gurman. Last August he said expect Apple to include new sensors in 2022. Now he says there won't be any for years. He always does this. Cover the options with just enough time in between and you can point to your correct prediction. In short, he knows next to nothing.