Several major smartwatch manufacturers, including Samsung and Apple, are developing a new skin temperature reading health feature for their wearables. And for a moment, it looked like Samsung could become the first OEM to offer a wrist wearable equipped with temperature-reading capabilities later this year. Unfortunately, that opportunity appears to have flown out the window.
Realme has just unveiled a new smartwatch that looks a lot like an Apple Watch clone. It's called the Techlife Watch SZ100, and as you may have guessed by now, it boasts a skin temperature sensor. The SZ100 should hit the shelves in India in a couple of days for the low price of INR 2,499 ($32).
Samsung is working on adding skin temperature reading capabilities to its Galaxy Watch series, and initially, rumors had it that the Watch 5 could debut with this new health feature.
However, later reports claimed that Samsung is progressing much slower than expected due to difficulties developing an accurate temperature-reading algorithm, and may push back the release to 2023. Apple faced similar issues but reportedly overcame them and could add this feature to its upcoming Watch 8 series later this year.
Even though Samsung won't be the first, its solution could be more advanced than Realme's
Realme's SZ100 may have become the first smartwatch to offer a skin temperature reading sensor. However, the company underlines that the temperature sensor takes surface-level readings and shouldn't be used as a replacement for medical devices.
In other words, the sensor's accuracy is in question, especially given the low price of this smartwatch. Realme may have pulled a marketing stunt to beat Apple and Samsung to the market with this health feature, but its usefulness remains to be determined. It could be a gimmick.
On the other hand, Samsung is reportedly delaying the launch of its first smartwatch equipped with a body temperature sensor because it wants to get everything right from the get-go. The algorithm that powers the sensor has to be accurate and allow customers to take reliable readings, even if the Galaxy Watch in question may not be a medical device.
Whether or not Samsung's solution will be more advanced than Realme's remains to be seen, but we have a feeling that the Galaxy Watch will perform better than the SZ100 in this area. Only time will tell.
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