Galaxy Watch 4 and Active 4 to have’no blood glucose measurement’ for diabetic patients

On the 7th (local time), Ice Universe, a leading IT tipster, announced that “Samsung Electronics’ new smart watches’Galaxy Watch 4’and’Galaxy Watch Active 4’can be released in the second quarter of this year.” European IT media Phone Arena also reported that “Samsung Electronics plans to release two smartwatches with a blood glucose measurement function in the second quarter of this year.”

The biggest feature of the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4 is that it can measure the blood sugar in the blood without sticking the tip of a finger with a needle. Because the existing blood glucose measurement method collects blood, many diabetic patients complain of discomfort and pain.

In 2019, the Samsung Electronics Advanced Institute of Technology developed a technology that detects blood sugar levels in blood vessels in the skin by firing a laser with a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. It is a principle that reads the unique reflected wavelength that appears when the laser light and blood sugar collide. It is known that Samsung Electronics is researching a way to miniaturize the laser module and mount it on a new smart watch.

Diabetes management is expected to become more convenient when a smart watch that supports blood sugar measurement by wearing only appears. Currently, more than 150 million diabetic patients around the world are measuring their blood sugar every day.If they can measure blood sugar with a smart watch without blood collection, the discomfort for patients is reduced, and it is easier to track health status and deal with abnormal symptoms. It is expected to set.

Apple also recognized the importance of diabetic measurement and applied for a patent earlier this year for a technology to measure blood sugar or gas levels in blood using transmissive terahertz electromagnetic waves instead of lasers. IT foreign media predict that a blood-free blood glucose measurement will be added by applying this technology to the Apple Watch 7 (tentative name), which is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year.

However, according to the healthcare industry, it is known that the blood glucose measurement function provided by Samsung Electronics and Apple through a smart watch cannot keep up with the accuracy of blood glucose measurement. Therefore, for the time being, it is expected to be used only for tracking the health status of patients with diabetes and metabolic syndrome, rather than a formal medical device. In the industry, it is predicted that the two companies will first add a function to a smart watch, then collect patient data, and improve the accuracy of the blood-free blood glucose measurement function based on this.

The Galaxy Watch 4 is the successor to the Galaxy Watch 3 released half a year ago, and is a smart watch suitable for everyday life and golf activities. The Galaxy Watch Active 4 is the successor to the Galaxy Watch Active 2, which was released a year ago, and is suitable for more active sports such as running and swimming. In order to integrate the Galaxy Watch 4 and the brand name, it is expected to skip the name Active 3 and release it under the name Active 4.

Meanwhile, according to Counterpoint Research, the global smartwatch market share in the fourth quarter of last year was in the order of Apple (40%), Samsung Electronics (10%), and Huawei (8%).