Apple has steadily increased its health credentials with each generation of the Apple Watch, starting with fall detection and ECG sensors in the Series 4 and adding blood oxygen tracking in the Series 6

And now Apple is about to introduce something even more ambitious in Apple Watch 7 A blood glucose sensor that can inform diabetics when their blood glucose levels drop to dangerous levels

The news comes from ETNews, which claims that both Apple and Samsung will introduce this technology in wearables this year In Apple's case, this will likely be a continuous monitoring solution from above the skin that does not require implants, and the company appears to be "focused on ensuring reliability and stability prior to commercializing the technology"

Assuming this is true and reliable enough for people to trust, this could be great news for diabetics; as we explained in November, the current Apple Watch can be used with other continuous blood glucose tracking devices, but it is not cheap

Options include Dexcom ($245 for a transmitter and $1,035 for a 3-month disposable sensor) and FreeStyle Libre ($6999 for a receiver and $3599 for a 10-day sensor) Manual testing systems such as One Drop ($3099 to $8999 per month, depending on the number of tests per day) are less expensive, but obviously less convenient

Although essential for diabetics, blood glucose monitoring can also provide interesting insights for people without underlying diseases Even imperfect blood glucose sensors may be useful for those who wish to eat better or lose weight This could eventually be a way for Apple to sell new sensors, especially if the initial implementation was not robust enough for diabetics to abandon existing solutions

Of course, longtime readers of Tom's Guide may think they have heard this before: back in 2017, Apple hired a secret team of biomedical engineers tasked with developing a blood glucose monitor, and CEO Tim Cook was wearing a prototype reported that he had even been seen wearing the prototype

Four years later, we may finally see the arrival of this technology when Cook takes the stage at Apple's annual September event, where both the Apple Watch 7 and iPhone 13 are expected to debut