Yesterday at the Apple ‘Gather Around’ event, Apple introduced to the public the Apple Watch Series 4 which is packed with advanced health monitoring features.
Yesterday at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams unveiled the Apple Watch Series 4. The Series 4 has become one of the highlights of the recently concluded Apple ‘Gather Around’ event where the watch was publicly introduced together with the other latest Apple products.
Apple definitely worked hard to enhance the new Apple Watch by adding more sensors and health monitoring features. While previous models of the said smartwatch have included a built-in monitor to measure a person’s heart rate, they all only perform the usual task of tracking the heart rate.
The Apple Watch Series 4 is more advanced and can do the following:
- perform ECG
- detect atrial fibrillation
- detect low heart rate
“Fitness is at the core of Apple Watch,” Williams was quoted as saying. “And while you could always check your heart rate, Apple Watch now checks in the background and notifies you if you have an elevated heart rate … it’s become an intelligent guardian for your health.”
The watch can also detect if the wearer falls and may initiate an emergency call through Siri if the wearer has not moved after the fall.
These added features required Apple to seek clearance from FDA. According to Williams, the approval gave Apple the go signal to distribute the smartwatch directly to customers, making it the first over-the-counter ECG-enabled smartwatch to be sold in the market.
All the data gathered by the Series 4 will be encrypted and stored in the cloud. The AFib detection and ECG will be made available before the end of 2018 in the United States. Then, the said features will be rolled out to other countries around the world starting next year.
While the Apple Watch Series 4 is not the first wearable device to receive FDA approval for ECG monitoring, integrating the feature to the watch itself will make it easier for people to use it. It eliminates the need to attach ECG sensors like the AliveCor’s Kardiaband to the Apple Watch.
The Series 4 has a new edge-to-edge display, making it over 30 percent larger than the previous Apple Watch models. The redesigned crown is also notable for its thin, red outline, and haptic feedback. The latest Apple smartwatch is also equipped with a new system-on-a-chip that includes a 64-bit dual-core processor. According to the company, the latter makes the Series 4 faster than its predecessors.
The Apple Watch Series 4 price will start at $399 USD while the Series 4 with GPS + Cellular will start at $499 USD. The Series 4 will be available on September 21st, but interested customers may begin preordering the smartwatch this Friday.
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