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5 Years ahead of Apple, new Huawei Watch to bring non-invasive blood sugar monitoring
Huawei is continuously innovating in smartwatch technologies and the next Watch series could bring new non-invasive blood sugar monitoring features. Which, Apple may take up to 5 years to bring to reality.
According to the information coming from Weibo tipster, Huawei has developed the world’s first non-invasive blood sugar monitoring technology and it may come with Huawei Watch 4 series. The tipster also revealed that this tech has over 85% accuracy ratio, which is very impressive. Also, it’s specifically mentioned that it’s a life-saving device for people with diabetes.
What is non-invasive blood sugar monitoring?
According to NCBI, Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring is used to measure human blood glucose without causing damage to human tissues. There are lots of methods for non-invasive blood glucose detection, which can be generally divided into optical methods, microwave methods, and electrochemical methods.
Noninvasive glucose monitoring is required by people with diabetes to prevent both chronic and acute complications from the disease.
Traditional Measurement: – The traditional fingerstick blood glucose test requires carefully planned performance to catch the peaks and troughs of blood glucose levels, bringing inconvenience and pain to patients’ lives.
For diabetic patients, daily health management relies heavily on invasive blood glucose testing multiple times per day. This makes a user-friendly system for painless, automatic, and continuous blood glucose measurement highly desirable.
Apple:
Last month, well-known Apple insider, Mark Gurman shared details on Apple’s current progress on Blood Glucose measurement technology. He said that Apple had a project underway for a long time (for several years) for health tracking such as “noninvasive and continues blood glucose monitoring”.
According to Mark, Apple is likely to use a chip technology known as silicon photonics and a measurement process called optical absorption spectroscopy.
The system uses lasers to emit specific wavelengths of light into an area below the skin where there are interstitial fluid substances that leak out of capillaries that can be absorbed by glucose. The light is then reflected back to the sensor in a way that indicates the concentration of glucose. An algorithm then comes into play to measure blood glucose levels.
Eventually, Mark mentioned that Apple is still several years away from achieving this technology, around 3 to 5 years.
Huawei’s approach:
The tipster said that Huawei won’t be limited by this new smartwatch technology because it will apply it to the global medical level. Meanwhile, it would definitely require some approval from different health agencies in order to bring these wearables up in the markets.
However, it would be more interesting to see Huawei’s approach towards such futuristic tech and its performance in real-time. As Huawei already made BP measurement possible with Huawei Watch D in the past.
Huawei Watch D:
For those who don’t know, Huawei Watch D is the first smartwatch to come with a blood pressure monitoring feature. The watch is simultaneously capable of conducting ECG Analysis. It has a margin of error within ±3 mm Hg, which is made possible by a high-precision pressure sensor, meticulous pressure feedback controls, and less air resistance.
The watch comes with a macromolecular tensile strap, ergonomically-arced airbag, and butterfly clasp to remain stable during inflation. Huawei has also designed a special blood pressure measurement algorithm for the smartwatch called “Huawei TruBP”.
This algorithm is based on a cascade model and different blood pressure patterns. It is sensitive and considerate of the wearer’s every need. And features smart measurement assistance, abnormal posture detection, and a host of other high-level capabilities. Furthermore, Watch D offers smart blood pressure and these are fully customizable.
Watch D2:
Huawei Watch D (first Gen) was launched in 2021 and it’s reported that the tech maker is preparing to unveil the second version of this smartwatch this year. So, it’s a possibility that the Blood Glucose measurement feature may schedule with this smartwatch instead of the Watch 4 series.
Official Announcement
Nope, Huawei has not confirmed the launch of this feature for the upcoming smartwatches including Watch 4 or Watch D2.
Still, the Watch 4 comes under a premium all-around smart wearable category and Huawei will treat it that way. Therefore, installing this brand-new capability makes sense if it actually comes out next month.
