Apple’s long-rumored effort to add noninvasive blood-glucose monitoring to the Apple Watch is reportedly seeing internal changes that supporters of the project view as an encouraging sign of progress. Multiple outlets cite a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman saying Apple has shifted leadership of the program from Tim Millet, who previously oversaw platform architecture, to Zongjian Chen, a senior engineer focused on advanced technologies. Gurman characterizes the move as positive, suggesting Chen may be able to accelerate development toward a possible consumer-facing product.
The reports also reiterate that the project has been in development for more than 15 years. In earlier coverage, Gurman described a potential approach that uses lasers to emit specific wavelengths of light into tissue and measure reflected signals related to glucose in interstitial fluid beneath the skin. A related algorithm would then estimate blood glucose levels, and the system could potentially provide alerts tied to possible prediabetes.
Despite the leadership update, the sources agree the Apple Watch is unlikely to gain the feature for several years, and it remains uncertain whether the technology will ultimately reach consumers.
