Apple could not make it work, and Samsung probably will not, says analyst
Can a smartwatch tell you what your body temperature is, just by slamming a sensor on top of your wrist? That’s what Samsung’s apparently trying to get this year’s Galaxy Watch5 to do. But will it really? An expert seems to think that if Apple can not do it, then the other side can not either.
A March report indicated that Watch5 would have a thermometer that would take the temperature of the wearer’s skin and extrapolate their body temperature using software. When the skin is exposed to the environment, the software – namely the algorithms that run in it – must of course be top class to help us understand anything.
These algorithms are not suitable for Apple, according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo. In a series of tweets, the experienced market researcher claims that Apple has given up implementing body temperature measurements for this year’s 7th generation Apple Watch (it looks like a “better luck next year” scenario) and speculates that Samsung will not be able to do so same for Watch5. Kuo is known in the industry for his observations about Apple.
Samsung may have better luck prototyping wireless earphones with infrared temperature sensing, also mentioned in the March report. Having them attached to the smartwatch can do just as well in telling users whether they have a fever or not. And we know how worried people are about having a fever, especially in a post-pandemic era.
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