Health-Oriented Apple iWatch To Have LG’s OLED Screens – Reports

Apple has hired two experts from the medical sensor world to work its heavily rumoured but as yet unconfirmed ‘iWatch, according to 9to5mac, while a separate report suggests LG is manufacturing an OLED screen for the smartwatch.

The new hires are Nancy Dougherty, who joins from start-up Sano Intelligence, and Ravi Narasimhan of medical devices firm Vital Connect.

Both held senior positions at their former companies, with Dougherty’s work with medical patches that use needle-less technologies to read and analyse a user’s blood gaining widespread attention last year. Narasimhan’s work at Vital Connect was focused around biosensors, with the company’s technology used to measure information such as skin temperature, respiratory rate.

The world on your wrist

One of the key mooted benefits of wearable smart devices is the possibility that they could provide tracking information concerned with the wearer’s health. Data gathered via a wearable device could be uploaded to a central computer and the results analysed to check for any possible risks.

Apple has been slowly building up its wearable technology team over the last few months as the company looks to expand its existing product lines. This year’s CES saw many of the world’s leading technology companies, including Samsung and Intel, make the move into wearable technology as they look to increase the integration of technology into everyday life.

CEO Tim Cook said last year that the company will continue to innovate, and hinted that a smartwatch would soon be appearing, commenting that “the wrist is natural”, although no release date has yet been announced.

Elsewhere, Apple has also reportedly signed a deal with LG to supply the screens for the iWatch. Korean website DDaily claims that mass production of the 1.52in displays will begin later this year, and aims to produce 2 million units in a run lasting from July to September. The screens are rumoured to feature the same plastic-OLED technology seen in LG’s curved-screen Flex smartphone (right), which should fit well with the design of a smartwatch, allowing a user to view the screen at all angles.

It had been rumoured that Apple would be building the screens for the iWatch itself, using a thin and flexible display technology called Willow Glass developed by Corning, the makers of Gorilla Glass, which is used in a wide variety of smartphones and tablets on the market today.

Think you know all about Apple? Try our quiz!