Samsung's big plan to compete with the Apple Watch: keeping you healthy as you age
Healthcare costs are expected to rise in 2025 and older adults are increasingly looking to age in place — trends Samsung is targeting to get a bigger piece of the digital health market. And the company's upcoming smartwatch update is another step in that direction, says Hon Pak, vice president and head of the digital health team for Samsung's mobile business.
'You have an aging population with increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and then you have costs going up,' Pak said in a CNN interview. 'And so all of those pressures are leading to care shifting to the home where we happen to be.'
Samsung wants to use digital health as a way to catch up to – and maybe beat – Apple in wearable technology. Both companies are expanding their wellness offerings as they hope to lock in long-term customers amid slowing smartphone sales. A beta version of the software will be available this month for Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 and newer models, although certain functions will only be available for the company's latest models.
Pak believes the company may have an edge over its competitors in bringing health into the home because it's already there in the form of appliances and home entertainment products, he said.
Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker by market share, according to estimates from leading market research firms. But Samsung faces steeper challenges in smartwatches, as it only accounted for roughly 6% of that global market in the first quarter of 2025, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), while Apple took the top spot with about 20% of the market.
Apple has done a better job at marketing the Apple Watch as a compelling smartphone companion than Samsung, says Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager for the IDC.
'(Apple is) closest to making the smartwatch a 'must have' than any other brand or ecosystem,' Ubrani told CNN in an email.
Samsung hopes to differentiate itself by focusing on preventative advice — i.e. helping users eat right or get enough sleep before developing health conditions. Yet it also faces competition from smaller health tech companies like smart ring maker Oura, which takes a similarly proactive approach to health tracking that tech giants like Google have also emulated.
'As a physician, we collect about, probably less than 1% of the patient data, and we use that 1% data to make diagnostic and treatment decisions,' said Pak, who was the chief medical officer for 3M Health Information Systems before joining Samsung. 'We don't know if the patient's exercising … if they are eating right.'
The smartwatch update will include a new feature for measuring whether wearers are eating enough antioxidants. It works by shining LED lights at different wavelengths on the wearer's skin, which it says can estimate their levels of beta carotene, a type of antioxidant found in foods like carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach. To operate the feature, the user takes off the watch and presses the sensor on the back.
Pak notes that the feature estimates if users have enough antioxidants in their system rather than qualify their vegetable intake. He said the feature went through clinical trials that involved measuring beta carotene levels in the blood.
The update also includes bedtime recommendations and a 'running coach,' which creates training programs to help wearers hit their running goals. It comes after Apple announced its own Apple Watch coach on June 9 called Workout Buddy.
Pak says Samsung has an AI-powered health chatbot in the works but couldn't share more details with CNN since there hasn't been an announcement on a project launch. Apple is also said to be working on a similar tool, according to Bloomberg.
Beyond watches, Pak thinks AI-powered smart glasses present an opportunity for new types of health features, particularly meal logging. He says new technology may soon tell whether a person is eating too fast or if their meal has allergens by analyzing their plate using AI models working in conjunction with glasses.
Developers have already created services that claim to analyze nutritional contents of food by snapping photos and analyzing them through ChatGPT or Google's Gemini models.
'I don't think it's a technology problem,' said Pak. 'I think it's just a packaging of the technology capabilities that we have today.'
Samsung previously said it was developing a pair of smart glasses to run on Google's new Android XR software.
But Samsung's smartwatches don't work with iPhones, a challenging limitation since Apple owns nearly 20% of the market. Samsung stopped making its watches compatible with iPhones several years ago, likely a move to convince users to remain loyal to its own phones.
However, Pak hasn't ruled out the possibility of working with Apple again.
'I think there are always discussions about this,' he said. 'There are active discussions, but I think no decision has been made in terms of timing.'
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