Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by srinivas
The Apple Watch Series 8 and the rumored “rugged” Apple Watch will offer a new fever detection sensor this fall. The new Apple Watch SE will lack this feature.
The news comes via Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, who reported in April that Apple was planning to add body temperature sensing to the next-generation Apple Watch. Gurman shared some more information about the new feature in his weekend Power On newsletter, unfortunately, it seems the capabilities are not meeting people’s expectations.
Gurman explains that the detection of body temperature does not give a specific value, as you would expect from a thermometer. Instead, it will alert you if it thinks you have a fever.
“The body temperature feature won’t give you a specific reading, like it would with a forehead or wrist thermometer, but it should be able to tell if it thinks you have a fever,” he wrote.
“Except for the body temperature reader, other hardware changes will likely be minor,” Gurman says, indicating that the chip’s processing power won’t be better than the Apple Watch Series 7 and even the Watch Series 6. Bear in mind that there could be a brighter screen.
Gurman describes some of the reasons why this year’s Apple Watch won’t offer major new features. He notes that Apple’s chip development team has focused on the Mac chips at the expense of other areas. He also suggests using the same Watch processor will help Apple keep costs down at a time when the company is being hit by rising inflation, the ongoing chip shortage and manufacturing delays. Gurman also discusses the lack of new features coming to the second-generation AirPods Pro in the same newsletter, as discussed here: Don’t expect much from 2022 AirPods Pro – Gurman.
Learn more about the upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 in our complete guide to the 2022 Apple Watch. We also have this guide for the Apple Watch SE 2.