Samsung may one day have a smartwatch with a built-in blood pressure monitor

Monitoring your blood pressure is usually a troublesome task involving a heavy cuff that squeezes your arm to check your levels, but it looks like a future smartwatch from Samsung may be able to measure it more easily.
 
Rather than working like the cuff system at your local doctor's surgery, this will use a light source and light receiver to monitor your bloodstream in a similar way to a heart rate tracker.
 
If the tech proves accurate, it would mean you'd be able to monitor your blood pressure levels directly on your wrist without having to carry another accessory around with you.
 
Could one day save lives
This has all been detailed in a patent filed by Samsung for an upcoming watch, but there's currently no specific details on if it'll feature in a watch, or if this is just tech the company is experimenting with.
 
As it's just a patent for now, you shouldn't expect this on the next generation of Samsung devices.
 
The patent refers to the watch as the Gear X, but it's likely this is just a codename but we wouldn't expect this tech to be ready for either the Samsung Gear S4 or Gear Sport 2.
 
Being able to spot high blood pressure can mean medical professionals will be able to identify conditions like cardiovascular disease earlier. With lots of smartwatch owners having easy access to a blood pressure monitor directly on their wrist, it may be that one day these devices will help to save lives.

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