Apple’s Big Wellness Announcement

On Tuesday September 10th, Apple made its most significant health and wellness announcement to date. If you keep up with mhealth (mobile health) news, you’ve probably read plenty on Apple’s M7 processor. If you’re not an mhealth news junkie, then you may have missed the significance of Apple’s M7 announcement and it’s impact on the wellness market.

Apple’s new 5s iPhone will have two processors, the A7 and the M7. The A7 is the main processor. The M7 is a motion co-processor and works alongside the A7. The M7 continuously measures motion data coming from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass without having to wakeup the main A7 chip. By not waking up the A7 chip, the iPhone consumes less battery power when measuring motion.

The new iPhone is optimized for mobile wellness.

Mobile health and wellness apps like Moves, which functions as a smartphone pedometer and uses the iPhone’s technology to track movement 24 hours a day will be able to do so while draining less battery power. The M7 is a big win for mobile wellness apps. Apple’s motion processor will lead to improved mobile wellness experiences and encourage users who had been concerned about their phone’s battery life to give mobile wellness another shot.

For Apple’s announcement of the M7: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2013/