Well-connected industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that while Apple was forced to cancel its plans to add a body temperature sensor to the Apple Watch Series 7, the feature could be a feature on this year’s Apple Watch Series 8.
In a thread of tweets on Sunday, Kuo said Apple had planned to offer a body temperature measurement feature with the Apple Watch Series 7 models, but the body temperature algorithm it had developed failed to meet requirements before the device entered the engineering validation testing (EVT) phase last year. This forced the delay of the feature.
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Apple canceled body temperature measurement for Apple Watch 7 because the algorithm failed to qualify before entering EVT stage last year. I believe Apple Watch 8 in 2H22 could take body temperature if the algorithm can meet Apple's high requirements before mass production.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 1, 2022
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Samsung is facing this challenge as well. Unlike previous media reports, I think Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 in 2H22 might not support the body temperature measurement due to algorithm limitations.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 1, 2022
The analyst says the upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 could boast a body temperature monitoring feature, as long as “the algorithm can meet Apple’s high requirements before mass production.”
Rumors indicate that Apple’s issues with the feature were related to body temperature measurement and how skin temperature quickly varies based on the environment, and (as noted by MacRumors), since a smartwatch cannot monitor core body temperature using hardware, the feature is heavily dependent on an algorithm that produces accurate results.
Kuo reports that Samsung is also experiencing similar challenges with its watch’s body temperature measurement functionality, noting that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 may not come with a body temperature monitoring feature due to algorithmic limitations.
