APPLE plans to bring satellite connections to its smartwatch in 2025 and is ramping up work on a blood-pressure feature, seeking to entice hikers and health-conscience consumers into upgrading their devices.
The satellite capability is slated to come to next year’s Apple Watch Ultra, the company’s top-of-the-line model, according to sources familiar with the matter. The technology will let smartwatch users send off-the-grid text messages via Globalstar’s fleet of satellites when they do not have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
The other feature, which would monitor whether Apple Watch users have high blood pressure, may arrive as soon as 2025 as well, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the work is confidential. But it’s been delayed before, with Apple previously aiming to release the tool last year.
The technology would extend one of Apple’s biggest efforts under chief executive officer Tim Cook: bolstering the health and safety features of its products. The company has increasingly marketed its watch and phone as lifesaving devices, and the latest capabilities would strengthen its case.
A representative for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.
The company first launched a satellite communication feature with the iPhone 14 in 2022. It let users stay in contact with emergency services while off the grid. The capability was expanded last year to allow for contact with roadside assistance providers. Apple then upgraded the feature again this year to let people use it to text anyone via iMessage.
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But that meant hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts still had to carry their iPhone to use the technology. Now they will only need their watch.
The Apple Watch Ultra would be the first mainstream smartwatch with satellite abilities. The move also could give consumers less reason to use a standalone satellite communication device, such as Garmin’s inReach.
Shares of satellite provider Globalstar surged about 15 per cent to US$2.43 as at 2.26 pm in New York after Bloomberg News reported on Apple’s plans. Apple gained less than 1 per cent to US$247.53.
Apple and Globalstar have expanded their partnership over the past few years. In November, the iPhone maker invested about US$1.5 billion in GlobalStar to beef up the infrastructure. Apple took a 20 per cent stake in the company as part of the deal.
Apple is looking to reinvigorate smartwatch sales with the new features after a slow stretch. Revenue from the company’s Wearables, Home and Accessories business, which includes watches, has declined the past two years – partly because customers have had less reason to upgrade.
Though this year’s Apple Watch Series 10 is thinner and has a larger screen, it is not much of a departure from prior models. And the company did not update its Ultra model at all in 2024, though Apple began offering a black titanium version along with new bands.
The satellite function would give users a reason to spring for the Ultra model, which costs US$799, rather than a lower-end version. The company sells the budget-minded Apple Watch SE for US$249, and the Series 10 starts at US$399.
The Apple Watch also is getting an under-the-hood change in at least some models: a move away from Intel cellular modems to versions developed by MediaTek. The swap would further cut Apple’s reliance on Intel, which previously developed processors for the company’s Mac computers. It will mark the first time the company is using a major component from MediaTek, which it has evaluated as a possible supplier for more than half a decade.
Separately, Apple is developing a modem component for the iPhone and other devices – a switch away from Qualcomm technology. But there are not current plans to use that in the Apple Watch.
Intel and MediaTek did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The move to MediaTek will also include support for 5G Redcap, a lower-tier 5G service aimed at internet-connected devices and wearables that typically do not require fast data connections. Current Apple Watches use 4G LTE and never moved to the 5G standard, despite Apple switching over the iPhone in 2020.
The blood-pressure feature, meanwhile, is designed to work in a similar way to Apple’s sleep apnea detector. It will not give users specific readings – such as diastolic or systolic levels – but it will inform them that they may be in a state of hypertension.
Apple also continues to work on a noninvasive blood-glucose tracker, but that feature remains further out. Earlier this year, Apple tested a blood-glucose app for the iPhone that would sync with third-party continuous glucose monitors and measure the impact of certain foods on a user’s blood sugar.
Samsung Electronics, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, already sells devices with blood-pressure capabilities. There have been concerns, though, about the accuracy of the Samsung product and the need for it to be calibrated against a traditional monitor. BLOOMBERG
