Next year’s Apple Watch is expected to have quite the upgrade in it as a new report says the wearable tech will be able to detect sleep apnea and feature a blood pressure sensor, but it will come at a cost.
The report from Bloomberg says that the watch will not only have the new upgrades but that Apple will be introducing a new paid health service.
The paid health coaching service could be a new form of subscription revenue for Apple as it looks to push its profits further from existing products. The app will reportedly recommend workouts and eating plans for subscribers.
Since Apple joined the subscription field, its services business has grown to become its second largest, generating $19.6 billion in revenue during the third quarter alone, coming in second to only the iPhone.
With the introduction of a health coaching service, the business is expected to grow further.
The blood pressure sensor will reportedly detect when a user’s blood pressure is elevated but won’t show exact measurements.
The report says that Apple is working on adding specific diastolic and systolic metrics in a future watch. However, speculations around blood pressure sensors have circulated the company for years.
Next year’s watch will also reportedly monitor breathing and sleeping habits for consumers, going as far as to predict if a person has sleep apnea, a condition where breathing stops and starts during the night.
If the watch thinks a person has sleep apnea, it will recommend that the wearer talk to a doctor.
Apple has not commented on the report.