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New Apple Watch Series 6 can check your blood-oxygen levels – in 15 seconds
- The new Apple Watch checks your blood-oxygen levels while you sleep, has a brighter display than previous models and loads apps faster; prices start at US$399
- Also unveiled at this month’s Apple event was the cheaper Watch SE and a new iPad Air with thin bezels, with no circular home button
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The newly announced Apple Watch Series 6 continues the company’s push to position the wearable as a health and wellness device: it can now track blood-oxygen levels by shooting red and infrared light, and the whole process takes 15 seconds.
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“You can have [the Watch] monitor your blood-oxygen levels during sleep and when you wake up, the findings will be on your Watch and iPhone app,” explains an Apple executive, adding that the company is working with three medical centres in the US to determine medical indicators from the results.
While other wearables such as the Fitbit Versa 2 can already track blood-oxgen levels – otherwise known as SpO2 – the new Watch 6 can do it actively through the day, automatically.
SpO2 readings can be shared with health professionals with a few taps on the iPhone Health app.
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The new feature is meant to be as much about detecting potential developing health problems as it is about alerting users of an existing one.
Powering the new sensor is the S6 chip, which is based on the architecture of the A13 Bionic chip used in the iPhone 11 lines. Apple says apps will launch 20 per cent faster on the Apple Watch 6 than the 5, and there will be a new, brighter “Always-On” display.
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