Apple plans to bring satellite connections to its smartwatch in 2025 and is ramping up work on a blood-pressure feature, seeking to entice hikers and health-conscience consumers into upgrading their devices.
The satellite capability is slated to come to next year’s Apple Watch Ultra, the company’s top-of-the-line model, according to people familiar with the matter. The technology will let smartwatch users send off-the-grid text messages when they don’t have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
The other feature, which would monitor whether Apple Watch users have high blood pressure, may arrive as soon as 2025 as well, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is confidential. But it’s been delayed before, with Apple previously aiming to release the tool last year.
The technology would extend one of Apple’s biggest efforts under CEO Tim Cook: bolstering the health and safety features of its products. The company has increasingly marketed its watch and phone as lifesaving devices, and the latest capabilities would strengthen its case.
The company first launched a satellite communication feature with the iPhone 14 in 2022. It let users stay in contact with emergency services while off the grid. The capability was expanded last year to allow for contact with roadside assistance providers. Apple then upgraded the feature again this year to let people use it to text anyone via iMessage.
But that meant hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts still had to carry their iPhone to use the technology. Now they’ll only need their watch.
The Apple Watch Ultra would be the first mainstream smartwatch with satellite abilities. The move also could give consumers less reason to use a standalone satellite communication device, such as Garmin’s inReach.
Globalstar
Apple’s service relies on satellites from Globalstar, which has expanded its partnership with the iPhone maker over the past few years. In November, Apple invested about US$1.5-billion in GlobalStar to beef up the infrastructure. Apple took a 20% stake in the company as part of the deal.
Apple is looking to reinvigorate smartwatch sales with the new features after a slow stretch. Revenue from the company’s Wearables, Home and Accessories business, which includes watches, has declined the past two years — partly because customers have had less reason to upgrade.
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Though this year’s Apple Watch Series 10 is thinner and has a larger screen, it isn’t much of a departure from prior models. And the company didn’t update its Ultra model at all in 2024, though Apple began offering a black titanium version along with new bands.
The satellite function would give users a reason to spring for the Ultra model, which costs $799, rather than a lower-end version. The company sells the budget-minded Apple Watch SE for $249, and the Series 10 starts at $399.
The Apple Watch also is getting an under-the-bonnet change in at least some models: a move away from Intel cellular modems to versions developed by MediaTek. The swap would further cut Apple’s reliance on Intel, which previously developed processors for the company’s Mac computers. It will mark the first time the company is using a major component from MediaTek, which it has evaluated as a possible supplier for more than half a decade.
Separately, Apple is developing a modem component for the iPhone and other devices — a switch away from Qualcomm technology. But there aren’t current plans to use that in the Apple Watch.
Intel and MediaTek didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The move to MediaTek will also include support for 5G Redcap, a lower-tier 5G service aimed at internet-connected devices and wearables that typically don’t require fast data connections. Current Apple Watches use 4G LTE and never moved to the 5G standard, despite Apple switching over the iPhone in 2020.
The blood-pressure feature, meanwhile, is designed to work in a similar way to Apple’s sleep apnea detector. It won’t give users specific readings — such as diastolic or systolic levels — but it will inform them that they may be in a state of hypertension.
Apple also continues to work on a noninvasive blood-glucose tracker, but that feature remains further out. Earlier this year, Apple tested a blood-glucose app for the iPhone that would sync with third-party continuous glucose monitors and measure the impact of certain foods on a user’s blood sugar.
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Samsung Electronics, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, already sells devices with blood-pressure capabilities. There have been concerns, though, about the accuracy of the Samsung product and the need for it to be calibrated against a traditional monitor. — (c) 2024 Bloomberg LP
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