Apple's Health VP hints at blood glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch

Apple's vice president of Health has discussed the future of the Apple Watch, even offering a small hint towards work on advanced health tracking like non-invasive blood glucose monitoring.

The Apple executive played their cards fairly close to their chest when discussing future features, but, when asked about the possibility of Apple bringing blood glucose sensors to the smartwatch, they said that these are "really important areas, but they require a lot of science behind them."

The comment follows a recent report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who indicates that Apple has hit a milestone in its work to deliver a non-invasive blood glucose monitor. It's allegedly an area the company has been exploring for over a decade, with recent strides ensuring that it now has a viable proof-of-concept.

It's still believed that such a sensor, which works by shining a light through the skin in order to determine glucose levels in the blood, is still many years away from appearing in an Apple Watch, and Desai's comment appears to back that up.

Wareable

Off the back of comments by CEO Tim Cook that Apple's biggest contribution will be in the health sector, Desai also noted that the company is "laser-focused" on making sure it continues to build on the work it's already done. 

"We are investing in research and we collaborate with the medical community, which will take all of these new technology signals and really help us understand your health sooner and earlier," they said.

And, interestingly, when asked about more advanced health sensors being included at the accessible end of the Apple Watch lineup, Desai also hinted that a device the like Apple Watch SE will perhaps include more sensors in the future.

"We are still in the early days, and so the hope is that over time we learn more and make more features available, [and we will] also make the technology more available for more people."

"We have spent a lot of time trying to diversify our lineup of devices, where we offer the SE devices that are more accessible, and that’s something that we pay a lot of attention to," they continued.

In the full interview with the Indian outlet Businessline, Desai also touches on privacy concerns within consumer-focused healthcare - and even Apple's recent and ongoing patent spat with startup AliveCor.

All in all, it's pretty rare that Apple rolls out a high-level VP, and though nothing particularly groundbreaking was mentioned in the interview, it does at least underscore Apple's ambitions within health and wellbeing - something the Apple Watch will surely be at the core of.