Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch health sensor can detect ‘Advanced Glycation End Products’

Ben Schoon | Jul 8 2024 - 5:49 am PT

Samsung is gearing up for the launch of a lot of new products later this week, and the company is today showing off its new BioActive health sensor for the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra which features a potentially useful new function.

Detailed in a post today, Samsung is launching a new generation of its BioActive health sensor in the “next Galaxy Watch.” That’s the Galaxy Watch 7 series, as well as the Galaxy Watch Ultra, as leaks have told us are coming.

The new sensor both improves the reception of existing photodiodes as well as adding new LEDs that emit blue, yellow, violet, and ultraviolet light.

Samsung explains:

Samsung more than doubled the performance of each photodiode, successfully decreasing the number needed to maintain capacity from eight to four. This redesign freed up additional space for the integration of a larger number and variety of LEDs and ensured their optimal placement across the sensor. The new sensor now includes Blue, Yellow, Violet, and Ultraviolet LEDs in addition to an increased number of Green, Red, and Infrared LEDs. With the integration and arrangement of these LEDs, and specially designed photodiodes, Samsung is taking innovation one step further and is now able to pursue unexplored aspects of health monitoring on wearables.

With this improved hardware, the sensor is capable of improving its tracking of existing metrics such as heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Samsung says the new sensor is as much as 30% more accurate compared to the sensor found on Galaxy Watch 6 and earlier models. But those upgrades also enable new functionality.

The “first” of the new features coming to Galaxy Watch with this new BioActive health sensor is support for an “Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Index.” This will give users a better indicator of their metabolic health through tracking Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) in their system. AGEs, as Healthline explains, are compounds that result from glycation in the bloodstream, and can also form in foods during cooking. In high quantities, these compounds can build up in your system and can contribute towards harmful conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and more. AGEs are also considered by some medical professionals as a marker of a person’s overall health.

The first of these features will be an Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Index³ — an indicator of metabolic health and biological aging strongly influenced by overall lifestyle and dietary habits. Used as an insightful biomarker, this index provides a snapshot of your biological age to help you make more informed decisions about your wellness journey and work towards a healthier future. The addition of an AGEs Index is just one of the many new advanced features planned for the next Galaxy Watch.

Samsung says that the Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Index is “planned” for its upcoming Galaxy Watch models, but it sounds like it might not be available at launch. The feature’s availability may also depend on region, as is often the case with new health features.

The company also teases that this is just the first of “many” new features planned for Galaxy Watch models equipped with this new sensor.

The Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra are due to launch on July 10 alongside new foldables and the Galaxy Ring.

Reservations for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 – and all of these other devices – are open now on Samsung.com, with a $50 credit for reservation as well as potential savings of up to $1,500. Reservations are completely free and hold no obligation to actually buy the device. Signing up also puts you into a sweepstakes for a $5,000 Samsung credit.