Samsung smartphones could soon measure body fat

Smartphones and wearables are progressing to being more than just communication devices as we increasingly use them more to measure health and fitness. Smartphones can measure heart rate and a range of fitness and lifestyle metrics but Samsung wants to take it to the next level by measuring body fat.

The Korean manufacturer was granted a patent that allows it to place the measurement sensors on the device itself or on the screen on a phone case. The sensors would then work together to measure fat levels once they come into contact with the human body and based on the illustration, the sensors would work by measuring readings from both hands.

The patent goes on to describe the feature as:

acquiring the object’s impedance information on the basis of the intensify of the input current and the intensity of the measured voltage; and acquiring the object’s body fat information on the basis of the impedance information.

Health and fitness is a focus not only for Samsung but for all manufacturers. Tracking and monitoring forms a large part of the new Apple Watch, while the HUAWEI TalkBand and Samsung Gear Fit are all fitness-related. Add in the tracking abilities of Android Wear and fitness is a key area that many are contesting but Samsung could dominate with its new patent.

[related_videos title=”Fitness & Smartwatches:” align=”right” type=”custom” videos=”607780,591238,393658,369852″]The ability to measure body fat will certainly be interesting not only for consumers but for the medical profession as well. The biggest issue with current fitness features is that, often, the results aren’t accurate enough for professional uses. If Samsung can make the sensor readings accurate enough for use by the medicine professionals, smartphones may become useful in an entirely different way.

What do you think guys? Would you use body fat sensors on your next smartphone? Let us know your views in the comments below!