Galaxy Watch 5 catching up with competitors: receives FDA approval for AFib monitoring
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Quick ReadSamsungs Galaxy watch 5 received FDA approval for its irregular heart rhythm notification feature (IHRN) for the galaxy watch series. The IHRN feature will look specifically for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) by utilising the device's ECG (electrocardiogram) function and BioActive Sensor.
Why it’s notable:
Samsung's Galaxy watch series has been steadily expanding its range of features over the past year, with the AFib feature being the latest addition. Earlier this year, they announced a partnership with Natural Cycles to bring advanced temperature-based menstrual cycle tracking capabilities to their watches. Furthermore, just last week Samsung unveiled three new sleep-oriented features, which includes a sleep coaching feature enabling users to track their sleep habits. Given these recent advancements, it will be interesting to see what other features Samsung may have in their pipeline.
Samsung has lagged behind its competitors in the wearable industry; Apple Watch took the lead by introducing its own FDA-approved AFib features as early as 2018, showcasing an impressive 98% accuracy in detecting the condition. In the same vein, Google’s fitbit obtained FDA clearance for its AFib feature last year. Despite this, Apple still maintains its superiority with the inclusion of the ‘AFib History’ feature, which not only keeps a record of all identified irregular heart rhythms but integrates this data with users’ lifestyle data (sleep, activity, alcohol consumption) to generate weekly reports that highlight how these factors may be affecting their heart health.
Industry implications:
Competition is rife in the wearables market, with many companies wanting to maintain their foothold in the industry. Gaining FDA approvals for algorithms in the wearables market appears to be the status quo now, with Apple, FitBit, Garmin and now Samsung all having FDA cleared features. As customers become more tech savvy and health conscious, demand for advanced health features will grow pushing companies to innovate.
- Wearables track a huge amount of sensitive health related information on patients, which raises data privacy and security concerns. Unauthorised access and misuse of this data are significant risks that need to be addressed. Just this week, Oura, the wearable ring technology company, acquired digital identification startup Proxy. Part of this deal includes tackling data privacy issues through encryption and digital identity.