At its recent ‘Time Flies’ virtual event, Apple unveiled the next-generation Apple Watch Series 6 models, along with Apple Watch SE and a few other devices. The highlight of this new smartwatch is that it comes with a feature for blood oxygen monitoring.

During the announcement, Apple had revealed that the feature will be available in selected countries only. Now, it has been confirmed that the Apple Watch Series 6 models in China will have support for blood oxygen monitoring.

Apple had introduced the ECG monitoring feature with the Watch Series 4 but the feature didn’t make it to the Chinese variants. The ECG feature has been limited to certain countries only because of regulatory approvals. So, people in China were hoping that Apple doesn’t follow the same for the new SpO2 monitoring feature.

Given that the blood oxygen monitoring feature isn’t strictly controlled by regulatory authorities, it is possible for Apple to offer the feature is almost every region. Thus, the feature will be available in about 108 countries and regions.

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The blood oxygen monitoring feature takes about 15 seconds to complete the process and the function is accomplished using both red and infrared light. The device is powered by a new S6 processor, which is based on the A13 chipset.

It is running on the latest watchOS 7 which was introduced earlier this year during WWDC. There’s native sleep tracking support, a rebranded Fitness app with new workouts, a hand-washing feature tailored for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, richer complications, and the ability to share watch faces, and more.

The company says that the smartwatch offers 18 hours of battery life, the same as its predecessor. It also comes with support for fast charging which can recharge the device in about one and a half hours.

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Chinese tech company UMIDIGI has revealed via a tweet posted recently that it will launch a new smartwatch which has as its biggest feature a SpO2 monitor. The smartwatch will be called UMIDIGI UFit and isn’t just a smartwatch but a fitness and health tracker. The product will be launched on March 16.

In the face of the Coronavirus outbreak, the focus on health and fitness has increased. The blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) level is a vital indicator of a person’s health. This tracking the SpO2 level is also a new wearable tech metric getting adopted by more manufacturers. It might sound complicated but SpO2 can reveal conditions. For example, coronavirus and sleep apnea may cause low blood oxygen saturation.

The SpO2 monitor is already in some big-name wearables: Fitbit and Garmin already have an SpO2 sensor on most of their devices, and Huawei has jumped in too. UMIDIGI UFit is expected to also have a SpO2 sensor but it would be much more affordable, in line with UMIDIGI’s market strategy.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the device, but there are a few things we can speculate from the teaser image. Besides the SpO2 monitoring function, it apparently has a curved screen and 2.5D glass. And there’s a side button to control the watch. We won’t have to wait long to learn more about the smartwatch since it goes official on March 16.

UMIDIGI is also running a giveaway with five units of the UMIDIGI F2 smartphone and fifteen units of the UFit up for takes. You can join the giveaway on their official website. You can also pre-order the UFit on AliExpress.

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