New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

iPhone 6 May Include Temperature, Pressure and Humidity Sensors

Sunday March 16, 2014 11:12 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
weatherElectronics analyst Sun Chang Xu reports on her Weibo account that the next iPhone may add a pressure, temperature and humidity sensor.

G for Games relayed the report and points out that the "pressure" in this context is certainly atmospheric, not blood pressure:
According to Sun Chang Xu (news chief analyst at ESM-China), sources close to the matter have revealed that Apple will catch up in the “sensors department”, as the iPhone 6 will feature pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Please note that the analyst is probably not referring to blood pressure (this feature is rumored to be implemented in Apple’s iWatch) but to atmospheric pressure.
This same analyst previously reported that Apple may use "optical sensors" to measure heart rate and oxygen levels in the rumored iWatch. The addition of these atmospheric sensors would bring it up in line with Samsung's S4 which included similar atmospheric sensors.

The addition of more sensors to the iPhone 6 seems a natural progression with all the recent reports that Apple has been aggressively hiring individuals in the area of health sensors. iOS 8 is said to include a Healthbook app which reports on many health related sensors.

[ 118 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
lk400
65 months ago
Cant wait to find out how hot and humid my pants pocket really is.
Rating: 28 Votes
Avatar
chakdey
65 months ago
iPhone 6 will also tell you the future :rolleyes:
Rating: 16 Votes
Avatar
unobtainium
65 months ago
How accurate could the temperature sensor in a smartphone possibly be? I'm guessing it would usually give you a fairly inaccurate reading, particularly if you just pulled it out of your pocket, or if the CPU is running hot.
Rating: 13 Votes
Avatar
JerryCards
65 months ago
More and more useless stuff will be packed in iPhone 6, at least in Rumors. :D
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
locoboi187
65 months ago
I'm actually pretty excited about all these features for the iPhone 6 :D
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
eastamherstbias
65 months ago
I really don't care about those sensors. I am not the weather channel. How about we just do this.

2 sizes----
Bigger Battery
Bigger Screen
4k Recording
AC WIFI
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
Windlasher
65 months ago
Instead of just an UP arrow, could you also add a this is really stupid and I can't believe you actually printed this button?
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
psylence2k
65 months ago
I dont know why I would want my phone to tell me the humidity and temperature of a place I'm already at.

My body lets me know if it's too hot/cold or humid for my own taste.

I feel like I only need my weather app to tell me things like this BEFORE I go outside or into a certain area.

I'm probably missing something here.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
FirstNTenderbit
65 months ago

I really hope so! Some Android phones like the Galaxy already has this. If the iPhone has it, it would really help Meteorologists accurately track storms and save more lives.


I showed this comment around the office. Now everyone is laughing. Thanks for brightening our rainy Monday with a clever joke.:D
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
fluchtpunkt
65 months ago

Atmospheric pressure might be independent of where you keep your phone but of dubious value. I don't know many people who care or know even what the typical range of atmospheric pressure is. All of this is easily accessible through any decent weather application like weather bug. Why spend a sensor for things that can be easily obtained through an app?


Think fitness instead of weather. Barometric pressure sensors are a great way to get accurate readings of elevation (change).

As a cyclist I would love to have reliable elevation statistics of my rides. Barometric pressure is basically the only way to get this data, GPS is not good enough for this.
Rating: 3 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]