Samsung Galaxy Watch Could Beat Apple Watch To Game-Changing Glucose Monitoring

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Samsung has laid down the gauntlet with a bold declaration that progress on developing a non-invasive continuous glucose monitor is progressing swimmingly. A company executive claimed that positive strides in active diabetes monitoring sensors combined with AI "will be a game-changer." However, the executive and the electronics giant are mum about when this technology will roll out and in which product(s).

At present, sensor suites on smartwatches have gotten pretty great at tracking activities, such as workouts and sleep, plus monitoring basic cardiometabolic health, including heart rate variability (HRV) and atrial fibrillation (using electrocardiogram sensors). That being said, there is one cardiometabolic indicator that has remained the golden egg for smartwatch makers like Apple and Samsung—diabetes monitoring. 

While current smartwatch sensors have the ability to catch early onset of diabetes (by combining data from heart monitoring sensors and step count measurements), dedicated sensors and algorithms for monitoring live glucose levels has remained elusive. The technology is there, but for something as life-threatening and high risk as diabetes, accuracy and precision are paramount. Thus when Dr. Hon Pak, Samsung Senior Vice President and head of mobile digital health, divulged that work on blood glucose monitoring (on presumably a wearable) is going in a positive direction, he injected the caveat of needing to do it right.

Still, to have Samsung come out with a bold statement now means that the final result could debut sooner than we might think. At the recent Galaxy Tech Forum in San Jose, California, Pak said, "What I’m really excited about is our team, as you may have assumed, we are working on a non-invasive optically-based continuous glucose monitor. I can’t tell you the time [of the launch], but I’m very excited about the progress we are making, and this, if we do it right, will be a game-changer.”

If you think this Samsung's intent was just a one-off for sake of the forum, Pak repeated himself in a company editorial stating that "blood glucose is a big area of focus for us, and Samsung has been working to develop a sensor algorithm that predicts early signs of diabetes."

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What a pain!

It's probably safe to say that actual products with non-invasive blood glucose monitoring are at least two to three years away. If/when the tech matures enough to reach production and FDA approval, diabetics will have viable options (perhaps in a Samsung Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring), as opposed to pricey and annoying third-party hardware that rely on finger pricks or poking into the back of a person's arm.