Smartwatches have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. From basic notification glances to robust health tracking and more, smartwatches keep getting smarter. But we’ve still only scratched the surface of what smartwatches are capable of. The future looks bright for the humble wristwatch as new features and capabilities make it even more useful and integral in our daily lives.
Expanding Health Tracking Abilities
One of the key uses of smartwatches is health and fitness tracking. But current metrics like steps, heart rate, and sleep only reveal so much about our general wellness. The next generation of smartwatches will provide deeper insights into our health.
Advanced sensors are being developed to provide clinical-grade tracking. This includes things like blood pressure, blood oxygen, glucose levels, body temperature, and more. Apple is already touting future blood oxygen monitoring on the Apple Watch. Continuous glucose monitoring without pricking your skin may not be too far behind.
Not only will smartwatches track these biometrics, but they’ll also provide context and guidance to keep us in optimal health zones. Imagine your watch nudging you to take a walk when your blood sugar is low or reminding you to breathe when your blood pressure spikes.
Predicting Health Issues
Expanding health tracking capabilities will allow smartwatches to do more than provide snapshot insights into our wellbeing. Smart algorithms will be able to analyze longitudinal biometric data to spot potential health issues before they become serious.
By detecting early signs and subtle changes, future smartwatches may be able to alert us to emerging conditions like respiratory illnesses, heart problems, chronic stress, and more. This would allow us to proactively treat issues.
Smartwatches will also integrate with other health IoT ecosystems. Picture holistic home health monitoring combining data from your sleep-tracking smart bed, heart rate-monitoring fitness mirror, and nutrition-tracking smart refrigerator. Our smartwatches will be the hubs that bring everything together for truly predictive health tracking.
Revolutionary Battery Technology
One of the biggest limitations facing current smartwatches is short battery life. Even the top smartwatches available on the market can only last about a day on a single charge. Frequent charging is annoying and forces compromise in features and functionality. The good news is that revolutionary battery technologies are on the way in the coming years.
For example, graphene batteries are thinner than a strand of hair yet provide exceptional battery life and charging speed. Other innovations like solar-powered displays and better low-power components will also extend runtime.
Long-lasting batteries will enable smartwatches to pack more power-hungry features without dying halfway through the day. You’ll also be able to track sleep and health metrics 24/7 without breaks for charging. The future smartwatch may only need charging once a week!
Smarter Digital Assistants
Voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant on smartwatches are handy but still fairly limited compared to their smartphone counterparts. As natural language processing and context awareness advance, our wrists will host incredibly intelligent assistants.
Beyond just setting reminders and timers, future smartwatch assistants will converse with us conversationally. They’ll provide personalized recommendations and timely insights tailored specifically for us based on our habits, upcoming calendar events, and location context.
You’ll be able to ask questions, control other devices, get translations, have text conversations, and more completely via voice through your smartwatch. As the AI keeps learning, the back-and-forth will become more natural and useful in daily life.
Augmented Reality Integration
Speaking of becoming more useful, smartwatches of the future will integrate augmented reality (AR) to overlay digital information onto the real world. AR on smartwatches —especially when combined with smart glasses—will deliver timely notifications, directions, and insights within our line of sight rather than buried on a tiny screen.
Imagine getting turn-by-turn walking directions that are visually projected onto the route right in front of you! Or having restaurant reviews pop up when looking at a menu. Fitness tracking stats and biofeedback could also be displayed in your field of view during workouts.
AR will make interacting with our smartwatches more intuitive, immersive, and less disruptive to what we’re already doing. The technology will continue maturing quickly.
The Wrist Reimagined
When you add up groundbreaking advances spanning health tracking, battery life, AI, and AR, it’s clear smartwatches still have enormous room for innovation. Within just 5-10 years, they’ll sport cutting-edge capabilities we can only imagine today.
Beyond flashy tech, smartwatches will continue getting better at providing personalized guidance, timely insights, and convenience. They’ll seamlessly integrate into both our digital and physical lives.
In short, the future of smartwatches is incredibly bright. The wrist is an ideal hub for so many emerging technologies to make life easier, healthier, and more enjoyable as we go about our day. I can’t wait to see how the humble smartwatch keeps evolving!
