New patent may have revealed Apple Watch Series 6’s key improvement

The patent doesn’t talk about a completely new feature but the one that was revealed in Apple Watches back in 2018 – Fall Detection.

Apple Watch (HT Tech)

Although a good number of leaks and rumours have given us an idea of what to expect from the upcoming iPhone 12 models, very little is known about the next-gen Apple Watch, tipped as Apple Watch 6. 

Now, one of the patents unearthed by Patently Apple website, strongly hints at a feature that may arrive in Apple Watch Series 6. It's not a completely new feature but is an improved version of the one that was revealed in Apple Watches back in 2018 – Fall Detection.

In case you aren't aware, the ‘Fall Detection' feature when activated, sends an alert to the contact after it recognizes no activity after the fall for 60 seconds. Naturally, before alarming someone nearby or alerting the set contact, the Watch does run its algorithms again to confirms if you are fine or not. In case you chose ‘I'm Ok' it won't send alerts and trigger an alarm.

However, as per the new patent, this feature might be more precise than before and will be effective with better success rate. How is that possible? By adding more sensors or processors in to the mix. In addition, the enhanced feature could let the system give more information in alert notifications as it will likely gather more data.

As mentioned by Patently Apple, “Health metrics that may be computed using the electrodes include, without limitation, heart functions (ECG, EKG), water content, body-fat ratios, galvanic skin resistance, and combinations thereof.”

Although this will definitely be an addition and will help Apple promote its wearable device more as a health companion than before, all of this is still in the form of a patent. So, the chances of it showing up in the upcoming Watch Series 6 is just about 50%.