Smartwatches nonetheless can’t reliably measure blood sugar from the wrist. However Apple and Samsung could not want a breakthrough in sensors to make glucose monitoring a part of their subsequent AI well being battle.
As steady glucose screens (CGMs) transfer additional into mainstream wellness, the subsequent wearable contest could also be much less about detecting glucose instantly and extra about explaining it. Apple, Samsung, Oura, Dexcom, Abbott, and different health-tech gamers are circling the identical alternative: turning knowledge on glucose, sleep, stress, train, diet, and coronary heart price into personalised AI steerage.
That shift may make glucose monitoring the sharpest take a look at but for shopper well being AI. The promise is helpful: real-time teaching. The chance is {that a} wellness nudge can begin sounding lots like medical recommendation.
Smartwatches nonetheless have a glucose downside
The dream is straightforward: look at your wrist and see your blood sugar. The truth is just not.
Regardless of years of rumors and analysis, right now’s main smartwatches and good rings don’t supply FDA-cleared, noninvasive blood glucose measurement. In 2024, the US Meals and Drug Administration warned customers to not depend on smartwatches or rings that declare to measure blood glucose with out pores and skin penetration, citing the danger of inaccurate readings and probably harmful well being selections.
That actuality creates a problem for Apple and Samsung. Glucose is likely one of the Most worthy well being metrics they may add to their ecosystems, however it’s also one of the crucial medically delicate. As TechRepublic just lately reported, corporations together with Apple, Samsung, Garmin, and Oura proceed to discover glucose-related well being options, whilst really noninvasive glucose sensing stays elusive.
So the near-term path might not be a watch that replaces a steady glucose monitor. It might be a phone-and-watch ecosystem that connects to CGMs, imports glucose knowledge, and makes use of AI to elucidate what the numbers imply.
The AI layer could matter greater than the sensor
Steady glucose screens already generate streams of information. For folks with diabetes, that data could be medically important. For wellness customers, it could reveal how meals, sleep, stress, and exercises have an effect on power and metabolic patterns.
However uncooked glucose curves usually are not all the time simple to grasp. A spike after lunch, a late-night dip, or a sluggish restoration after a poor evening of sleep could also be helpful provided that the system can place it in context.
That’s the place AI turns into the true product.
As a substitute of merely exhibiting a chart, an AI well being assistant may summarize patterns, flag uncommon modifications, join glucose swings to meals or exercises, and recommend inquiries to ask a clinician. The machine on the wrist would nonetheless matter, however the aggressive benefit would transfer to the software program layer that interprets the physique’s indicators.
Apple and Samsung have already got the platform items
Apple and Samsung have lots of the items wanted to compete in that route, even when neither firm has introduced a shopper smartwatch that may instantly measure blood glucose with no CGM.
Apple has the Apple Watch, iPhone, Well being app, HealthKit, and Apple Intelligence. Samsung has Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Ring, Samsung Well being, and Galaxy AI. Samsung has additionally been pushing towards extra AI-driven well being interpretation, with latest reviews describing a redesigned Samsung Well being app constructed round personalised wellness insights, AI-generated summaries, Vitals, Power Rating, coronary heart well being, cardio load, and health metrics.
Apple’s present AI-health story is much less instantly tied to glucose. Its latest Apple Intelligence-connected health options, together with Exercise Buddy, level to a broader curiosity in utilizing AI to personalize well being and exercise steerage, however Apple has not introduced glucose-specific AI recommendation for customers.
That makes glucose knowledge a potential subsequent frontier reasonably than a confirmed product roadmap. A person’s glucose response to breakfast turns into extra significant when paired with sleep high quality, train, coronary heart price variability, treatment logs, and stress patterns. AI can sew these indicators right into a story.
That can also be why the competitors is about greater than wearables. It’s about who turns into the trusted interpreter of non-public well being knowledge.
Maybe the clearest instance of that future is already right here.
In Could 2025, Oura expanded its partnership with Dexcom to convey glucose insights from Dexcom’s Stelo steady glucose monitor into the Oura expertise. As The Verge reported, the function combines glucose readings with Oura’s sleep, exercise, stress, and restoration metrics, then makes use of AI-generated summaries to assist customers interpret metabolic patterns.
There are essential limits. The function depends on Dexcom’s Stelo CGM reasonably than glucose sensing from the Oura Ring itself, and The Verge reported that it was out there within the US at launch, with Stelo offered via Oura for $99.
That mannequin is essential as a result of it separates sensing from interpretation. The CGM handles the glucose sign. Oura focuses on the AI-powered expertise round it.
In different phrases, the {hardware} gathers the info, however the AI creates the worth.
Apple and Samsung may comply with an identical technique on a a lot bigger scale. They don’t essentially must win the primary battle by constructing the proper noninvasive glucose sensor. They’ll win by making glucose knowledge comprehensible, helpful, and habit-forming.
The FDA line is the laborious half
The problem is that glucose is just not a step rely. It’s not a sleep rating. It’s a metric folks could use to make selections about meals, train, treatment, and medical care.
That creates a slim path for shopper expertise corporations. An AI assistant can summarize developments, encourage customers to seek the advice of a doctor, or present academic wellness insights. However the nearer it will get to analysis, therapy, or treatment suggestions, the extra regulatory scrutiny it could appeal to.
That is the place Apple and Samsung’s normal consumer-tech playbook might not be sufficient. Well being AI needs to be helpful with out being reckless, personalised with out being invasive, and persuasive with out overstating certainty.
The businesses that win this market will possible be those that deal with belief as critically as options.
Glucose may turn into the take a look at case for AI well being
AI well being assistants are nonetheless of their early phases, and far of the market stays stuffed with formidable guarantees. Glucose knowledge may power the class to mature.
In contrast to broad wellness scores, glucose readings are particular, steady, and tied to actual well being selections. That makes them worthwhile for AI methods, but in addition tougher to deal with responsibly.
For Apple and Samsung, the chance is evident: construct the AI layer that helps folks perceive what their physique is doing all through the day. For customers, the query is whether or not these insights are correct, non-public, and clear about their limits.
The smartwatch could not turn into a blood sugar monitor anytime quickly. However the race to show glucose knowledge into AI well being recommendation is already underway, and the businesses that win it could be those that by no means wanted to measure glucose themselves.
Editor’s be aware: This text initially appeared on our sister publication, eWeek.
