Samsung's next smartwatch could bring diabetes monitoring to your wrist

The first rumor about the next Galaxy Watch is here. According to Korea’s ETNews, Samsung could add a blood glucose monitoring feature to the tentatively named Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch Active 3.

The new ability could make it much easier for people with diabetes to track their daily blood sugar levels. The tech reportedly uses an optical sensor to determine the readings, eliminating the need for drawing blood. It’s similar to how a number of smartwatches, including the Galaxy Watch 3, provide blood oxygen or SpO2 readings.

Samsung has been working on non-invasive techniques for blood glucose monitoring for a while now. Last year, it developed a method for monitoring blood glucose levels using a method called Raman spectroscopy. The process uses lasers to identify chemical composition, and according to Samsung, it demonstrates the “highest prediction accuracies among non-invasive technologies.”

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A similar patented spectroscopy system was recently presented on a prototype smartwatch at CES 2021. The watch, made by a Japanese startup named Quantum Operations, gives out blood sugar readings in just 20 seconds.

Samsung could see a sizeable uptick in its smartwatch sales if and when the new feature lands on its Galaxy watches. According to the CDC’s latest findings, one in 10 Americans have diabetes and one in three have prediabetes.

ETNews reports that Samsung will unveil three new wearables at its next Unpacked event. It’s unclear if all of them will bundle the ability to track blood glucose levels, but given the feature’s novelty, we expect to see it on Samsung’s premium Galaxy Watch 3 successor.