Blood pressure monitoring has been rumored for years to be included in Apple Watch, and it is expected to be available in Apple Watch Series 10. However, according to the latest news, Apple may have had too many technical difficulties with the new Apple Watch in 2024 to launch these features as scheduled.
The functionality is not up to the standard of reliability
Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Apple's work on measuring hypertension, or high blood pressure, has fallen short of the reliability Apple expects. According to sources, Apple is concerned that this feature will not work properly with the new design of the Apple Watch Series 10.
While Apple is expected to provide a complete blood pressure reading, Apple's system can only monitor whether a user's blood pressure is high from the baseline and only alert the user if an abnormality is detected.
Sleep apnea function is affected by the lawsuit
Sleep apnea was unable to measure oxygen saturation due to a lawsuit with Masimo Corp. This means that for Apple to implement this feature, it must successfully resolve the lawsuit or find an alternative.
It's possible that Apple will include this technology in the Apple Watch Series 10 but leave it disabled at launch and enable it after the lawsuit is over.
A bigger goal for the future: blood glucose monitoring
In addition to blood pressure and sleep apnea, Apple has a larger goal: blood glucose monitoring. This feature has been rumored and developed for almost a decade, but has not been possible due to the difficulties of non-invasive measurement technology. However, the latest reports reveal that Apple has achieved some important milestones in the development of this technology. This is a good sign, although it's still uncertain when the feature will actually be available in the product.