Apple couldn’t make it work and Samsung isn’t likely to, analyst says
Can a smartwatch tell what your body temperature is just by smacking a sensor on top of your wrist? That’s what Samsung is apparently trying to get this year’s Galaxy Watch5 to do. But will it really? One expert seems to think that if Apple can’t do it, then neither can the other side.
A report from March indicated that the Watch5 would have a thermometer that would take the temperature of the wearer’s skin and extrapolate their body temperature with the help of software. Of course, with skin being exposed to the environment, that software — namely, the algorithms running in it — would need to be top-notch in order to help us make sense of anything.
Those algorithms aren’t passing muster for Apple, according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo. In a series of tweets, the veteran market researcher claims that Apple has given up on implementing body temperature readings for this year’s 7th-gen Apple Watch (it looks like a “better luck next year” scenario) and speculates that Samsung won’t be able to do the same for the Watch5. Kuo is known in the industry for his observations on Apple.
Samsung may have better luck prototyping wireless earbuds with infrared temperature sensing, also mentioned in the March report. Having them linked up to the smartwatch may do just as well to tell users whether or not they have a fever. And we know how worried people are about having fevers, especially moreso in a post-pandemic era.
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