Alongside a long-running project to make its own modems, Apple is working on homegrown cameras, custom batteries, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, and more.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company will then probably need two or three additional years to get that [modem] chip inside cellular versions of the Apple Watch and iPad — and the Mac, once the part is integrated into the company’s system-on-a-chip.
At the same time, the group is working on several other projects:
• A combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip that will eventually replace parts from Broadcom Inc…
• MicroLED displays, which will first come to the Apple Watch, followed eventually by the company’s other devices…
• A noninvasive glucose monitoring system that the company hopes to eventually cram into the Apple Watch…
• Custom designs for the batteries in Apple products… this remains an exploratory project and creating marketable technology is considered a long shot.
• Lastly, the company is eyeing an in-house strategy for camera sensors.
MacDailyNews Take: All of these things will, of course, benefit Apple and their users, but the biggest one in terms of impact and, likely, revenue, if achieved, would be noninvasive glucose monitoring.
Initially envisioned by the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Apple engineers were tasked with developing sensors that can non-invasively and continuously monitor blood sugar levels to better treat diabetes. Before his death, Jobs envisioned wearable devices, like smartwatches, being used to monitor important vitals, such as oxygen levels, heart rate, and blood glucose, as Christina Farr reported for CNBC back in 2017.
If achieved, Apple Watch would become the essential device for hundreds of millions of people with diabetes. Non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring would indeed be the holy grail for treating diabetes. – MacDailyNews, April 12, 2017
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