The Apple Watch has secured a place in the hearts of millions ever since Apple put a heart rate monitor in the first iteration released way back in 2015. Apple sold about 49 million of them in 2022, and even though we’re waiting on the 2023 sales figures, the Apple Watch has solidified its perennial place on the podium in the world of smartwatches.
Now, Apple insiders have tipped that later this year, all three versions of the Apple Watch lineup—SE, Series, and Ultra—will be gaining high blood pressure detection. Since the initial Watch’s heart rate monitor, the health features of the Watch have been burnished and augmented to add ECG (electrocardiogram) recording, irregular heartbeat notifications, atrial fibrillation tracking, and high and low heart rate notifications. But is the addition of this one, new feature worth all the hubbub? In short, it actually is.
a “hearty” upgrade
Reports of a “major upgrade” to the health capabilities of the upcoming Apple Watch Ultra 3 so far center almost entirely around the long-awaited incorporation of high blood pressure detection. The Ultra 3 may release with other health-focused feature additions or upgrades to its existing capabilities, but as of now, the word from Bloomberg’s Apple leaker Mark Gurman only mentions the one health feature, alongside some connectivity upgrades.
At first glance, high blood pressure detection seems like a useful feature. But a major feature? Turns out that a lot of us have what cardiologists call “the silent killer” because it can go undetected for a long time, its symptoms not readily apparent. And why wouldn’t so many of us have it lurking undetected? We’re a nation of salt-gobblin’ fast-food goblins. Nearly half of adults in the U.S. have hypertension, AKA high blood pressure.
a heart to heart connection
Beyond the high blood pressure detection, details on the future of the Apple Watch lineup are rather scarce. There’s a redesign of the Apple Watch SE supposedly in the works, although with no word of a redesign for the upcoming Ultra 3 or Series 11, these latter two models may be more incremental updates.
Gurman also mentions that Apple is working to expand the satellite service that it brought to the iPhone lineup in 2022. There’s little more said about what sort of capabilities Apple wants, but the way Emergency SOS via Satellite works for the iPhone is that when there’s no cellular signal, the iPhone can connect to a satellite network to send and receive messages. That’d be an attractive feature if it made it to the Apple Watch lineup, even if it only debuts on the Ultra 3.
Last up on the rumor mill conveyor belt is 5G RedCap connectivity. RedCap stands for reduced capability, and it’s a more power-efficient alternative to regular 5G that’s useful to devices that don’t require the full suite of capabilities that standard 5G network access grants.
It’s a lot to take in, and we don’t yet know when we’ll get any of the new Apple Watches, except that they’re expected sometime this year. Until then, we’ll keep a finger on the pulse of any further Apple Watch rumors that drift our way.
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