It is now almost certain that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 will come with built-in sleep apnea detection, after Samsung’s sensor technology was officially authorized for this purpose by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US.
As Samsung indicates in a press release (via 9to5Google), it is the first company to receive such approval for sleep apnea in the United States. It means the FDA believes the detection algorithms are reliable enough for Samsung’s devices to be marketed as being able to detect the condition.
In other words, we can expect the Galaxy Watch 7 to be advertised with sleep apnea detection capabilities later this year. It doesn’t mean the detection will be foolproof, or that it can replace a diagnosis from a trained doctor, as Samsung makes clear in its announcement.
The feature will be available in the third quarter of this year, Samsung says, so we’re assuming this means the Galaxy Watch 7 (expected around July or August). There’s no word on whether it will come to older watches in the US, though Samsung does mention the “Galaxy Watch Series” in its post, and it’s already enabled on current models in South Korea.
Sleep well
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition in which the airways become blocked during sleep. It often goes unnoticed and untreated, but can cause people to temporarily stop breathing, reducing oxygen supply to the body and decreasing sleep quality.
OSA is also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmias and stroke. It’s believed that about 25% of men and 10% of women in the US experience OSA – and Samsung hopes to discover more cases.
As we previously reported, this has been coming for a while – as we mentioned, Samsung has already been cleared to enable the feature on its smartwatches in South Korea. Two nights of blood oxygen measurements are required for the sleep apnea detection to work, and it is suitable for people over 22 years of age.
It’s an important feature that other manufacturers are very interested in. It’s already available on Withings products, and Apple is busy adding it to the Apple Watch – despite the ongoing patent dispute over blood oxygen monitoring, which is key to detecting sleep apnea. , could mean we won’t see it for a while.