Apple may be working on a new medical device (and it’s not a smartwatch)

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By Larry Banks

Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the Apple Watch will not become a regulated medical device, but that the technology giant may create another device that is. The comments came after an interview with the Telegraph, in which Cook said putting the Apple Watch through the FDA testing would slow down its release cycle and hold Apple back from innovating. That’s rather a different stance from past times when it was thought Apple would add more and more medical sensors to the device.

Apple CEO hints at new medical-focused product

However, Apple is not abandoning the company’s health vision completely. Cook told the Telegraph that he wouldn’t mind putting “something adjacent to the Watch” through FDA testing. In terms of what that device might be, Cook said that “You can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it — maybe an app, maybe something else”.

Currently, products must be subjected to FDA tests if they are used to treat or diagnose a disease, which means that what Apple has in mind might be doing much more than tracking heart rate for example.

It’s the first time that Apple has clarified the fact that Apple Watch will not become more of a true medical device. The Watch may add new health features in future that make it more of a wellness focused device, that encourages healthy habits that are not regulated by the FDA.

Tim Cook also talked about the imminent launch of Apple’s jumbo-sized iPad Pro in the interview, and spoke of its competition: “I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?”. Apple does of course make personal computers, though of course it could be argued that he was talking about Microsoft-based devices rather than Apple’s own line of PCs.

SOURCE: The Verge.

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