Galaxy Watch 7 rumor puts blood sugar monitoring back on the table
What you need to know
A report suggests Samsung may implement blood sugar monitoring capabilities on the Galaxy Watch 7 later in 2024.
Samsung's Hon Pak stated the company is looking to bring blood sugar and diabetes monitoring to its Health ecosystem, alongside hypertension support.
Earlier this year, Pak stated that wearable blood sugar monitoring would be "non-invasive" but that it might not happen for another five years.
There's a chance Samsung could pack another key health monitoring feature into the Galaxy Watch 7 later this year.
According to PulseNews (Korean), Samsung's vice president and head of digital healthcare, Hon Pak, met with board members to discuss the future of its wearable health capabilities (via SamMobile). It was reported that Pak mentioned ambitions toward plugging diabetes and blood sugar monitoring into Samsung Health.
It was also discussed that arrhythmia and hypertension could be involved.
Rumors now state Samsung could look to apply such health monitoring capabilities for blood sugar, diabetes, and more into the Galaxy Watch 7. Additionally, the publication states the Korean OEM could tout the device as an "electronic device" instead of a "medical device." SamMobile notes this could be due to a multitude of regulatory factors.
Elsewhere, Pak wants to focus more on implementing Samsung's AI technology into its Health scope, although he did not state in what ways AI could improve a user's experience with Samsung Health or wearables moving forward.
Current rumors seemingly go against things we've heard previously, which suggested blood sugar monitoring wouldn't arrive for a few years. Hon Pak spoke about the feature earlier this year in January, stating Samsung was interested in bringing "non-invasive" glucose monitoring to its Galaxy Watch lineup. Such a method would remove the necessity of users puncturing themselves.
Pak originally stated that there was hope that the feature would arrive in the next five years. While this (obviously) puts glucose monitoring far from the Galaxy Watch 7, the latest rumors suggest it's back on the table.
For now, take this rumor with a pinch of salt until Samsung says officially.
In other news, specifications for the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7 leaked earlier this month. Appearing for its Bluetooth SIG certification, the watch may feature Bluetooth 5.3 support like its predecessor. Consumers might have three models to choose from for the Galaxy Watch 7 alongside the possibility of an on-device storage boost to around 32GB.
Rumors purport Samsung could hold its Unpacked event even earlier this year on July 10 in Pairs, France. We'll likely see the brand unravel the Watch 7 series there alongside other devices.
