According to a new report from Reuters, the next generation Watch, likely to be released sometime in 2016 will have richer health features and additional sensors.
“Two people familiar with Apple’s plans told Reuters the company is planning to unveil richer health features and additional sensors in later versions, the first iteration not hitting the market until early 2015,” the report said.
This new rumor may appear absurd given that the first generation Watch has not been released to public. However, there were high hopes that the Watch will come with groundbreaking sensors and features based on the formidable health and fitness team the company has assembled of the last few years.
Policy experts believe that the omission of some features in this first generation device is related to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Apple may have deliberately avoided mentioning medical use-cases for the watch for now to avoid attracting attention from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In its current form, the watch would not pose a threat to makers of mobile medical devices used by patients with chronic conditions, the report explains.
“Apple probably is very intelligently positioning its products for use to maintain good health generally, which is a perfectly appropriate way to avoid FDA regulation,” Bradley Merill Thompson, a Washington D.C.-based FDA specialist with the law firm Epstein Becker Green told Reuters.
