Sleep apnea and hypertension detection are the two most anticipated health upgrades that are expected to be included in the next-generation Apple Watch. Both are silent killers that can easily lurk under the surface. They cannot diagnose people, but if either is detected, users will receive a notification to follow up with a doctor.
Sleep apnea, in particular, often goes undetected. The National Council on Aging estimates that 39 million U.S. adults have the condition. Unfortunately, this feature will likely be removed from the next release. The reasons for this are as follows.
Apple has been forced to turn off the blood oxygen saturation monitoring feature on all newly sold Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 devices since last week. This was the result of a very long and drawn-out legal battle with Masimo over the intellectual property behind the SpO2 sensor.
Simply put, Masimo says Apple stole its technology and is using it in every Apple Watch since Series 6. Apple denies this, but the U.S. legal system and the U.S. International Trade Commission seem to agree with Masimo. As such, the feature has been officially stopped on all new devices Apple sells in the U.S.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman - one of Cupertino's most reliable sources of insider information - Apple's sleep apnea detection feature is not a good idea because, in order to function properly No SpO2 sensor? Sleep apnea detection is not possible.
Of course, Apple may come up with a workaround for the SpO2 sensor issue and avoid these concerns altogether. However, if the new Apple Watch lineup is launched without sleep apnea detection, not only will many people be disappointed, but the upgrade could be significantly less compelling.
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