Health is the number one reason I care about wearables. That’s why I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch for years. I want the Watch to monitor as many health parameters as possible, whether it concerns workouts and fitness routines or the non-active parts of the day.
Wearables have improved significantly over the years, with Apple leading the pack. The Apple Watch can monitor heart rate (and other heart parameters), breathing rate, blood oxygen (outside the US), wrist temperature, sleep, and an increasing number of workouts.
But the holy grail, for me, would be for the Apple Watch to measure blood sugar levels throughout the day just as easily as it measures heart rate. I’ve been saying that for years, as rumors detailed Apple’s ongoing work on the matter. I want these features from the Watch even though I don’t have diabetes. Also, I’d buy wearables with these capabilities for my family members with the condition.
That’s why hearing Samsung tease a noninvasive blood glucose monitoring feature for its own wearables is incredibly exciting.
Per Android Authority, Samsung hosted a Health forum in San Jose, where the company unveiled the Galaxy S25 series earlier this week. Samsung Senior Vice President Hon Pak talked about Samsung’s work on noninvasive blood sugar monitors.
“What I’m really excited about is our team, as you may have assumed, we are working on a noninvasive optically-based continuous glucose monitor,” the exec said. “I can’t tell you the time [of the launch], but I’m very excited about the progress we are making, and this, if we do it right, will be a game-changer.”
If Samsung is ready to mention such research, it must be confident in achieving this breakthrough. Also, while Samsung might not be ready to say when a future Galaxy Watch flagship will get the tech, I’m certain rivals, Apple included, would have similar release timelines.
The Apple Watch maker is notorious for its secrecy surrounding products and features. Apple will never tease work on any breakthrough project, whether noninvasive continuous blood sugar monitoring or something else. But Samsung is all about teasers. In recent years, the company has done that with hardware products like the Android XR headsets, the Galaxy Ring, and the Galaxy S25 Edge.
However, getting an optical sensor to perform accurate blood sugar readings is more difficult than creating a new piece of hardware. None of the companies working on such blood sugar monitors can afford mistakes. The technology will probably require FDA approvals before it can be released. Devices like the Galaxy Watch, Apple Watch, and similar products should provide blood sugar readings that are as accurate as traditional methods.
Those methods involve pricking the skin with a needle, collecting blood, and performing a blood sugar reading with a dedicated device.
The game-changer Samsung teased will involve the Galaxy Watch beaming a certain type of light through the skin and collecting data that AI algorithms will translate into blood sugar readings. If Samsung can pull off readings with the Galaxy Ring, that might be an even bigger breakthrough.
That simplicity could revolutionize how we treat and prevent diabetes, removing a major obstacle that prevents some people from managing their condition as well as possible.
A wearable will provide continuous data without requiring the user to do anything. In turn, the wearer will be able to react much faster to the information, whether that means adjusting the insulin dose to deal with a glucose spike or just eating something quickly to prevent a crash.
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