Piercing a needle through the skin to check blood glucose levels is an undesirable task, but Apple plans to help patients do away with any blood at all. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg(via MacRumors) said in a recent article that Apple has made a lot of progress in making noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology. Apple hopes to add glucose monitoring without having to prick the skin in a future version of the Apple Watch. This would help people with diabetes and others keep track of their blood sugar levels.
Apple is working on a silicon photonics chip that uses optical absorption spectroscopy to measure the amount of glucose in the body by shining light from a laser under the skin. This would get rid of the need to take a blood sample. The technology is functional at the "proof-of-concept" stage, but it must be miniaturized before it can be used in a wearable device.
The present prototype can be worn on an arm and is around the size of an iPhone. That's a considerable reduction from earlier models that were floor-standing.
The main chip in the prototype was made by TSMC, but Apple has worked with Rockley Photonics before to make sensors and processors for monitoring glucose.
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In 2021, Rockley Photonics introduced a digital sensor system that it claimed could be used to track a variety of vital signs, including core body temperature, pulse rate, blood sugar levels, fluid intake, alcohol use, and lactate levels. Apple was Rockley Photonics' largest customer, as stated in regulatory filings, but the two companies eventually severed ties.
It's true that Apple's Exploratory Design Group (XDG) has hundreds of engineers working on the technology, but it has a long way to go before it's ready for prime time. According to Bloomberg, the XDG is Apple's most secret project and is similar to Google's X research and development group. Apple has spent tens of millions perfecting noninvasive glucose monitoring.
After Apple bought RareLight in 2010, CEO Steve Jobs told the company to come up with a new way to measure glucose.
As the XDG was being built, Apple had a business called Avolante Health LLC covertly working on the project.
For the past decade, researchers have been testing a method of glucose monitoring that works beneath the skin. Apple tested the device on a variety of patients, including those with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and no diabetes at all.
Apple wants to come up with a way to tell users if they are pre-diabetic, so they can make healthy changes to their routines before they get diabetes. The technology is still in the early stages of the debate, but Apple's regulatory team has already begun talks with government officials.