ECG capabilities, available with the Apple Watch Series 4 and later, allow users to quickly take an ECG by simply placing their finger on the Digital Crown and staying still for 30 seconds. Before the feature launches in countries, Apple must retain regulatory approval from the country's respective and appropriate authorities. The feature first launched in the U.S. in 2018 with the Apple Watch Series 4, following FDA approval.
watchOS 8.3 and iOS 15.2 are currently available to developers and public beta testers and can be expected to be launched publicly in the near future. iOS 15.2 includes several new features, including a redesigned Notification Summary, the Apple Music Voice Plan, Legacy Contacts, and more.
Tuesday September 8, 2026 4:46 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's foldable "iPhone Ultra" may launch in mainland China later than in some other markets, according to an oft-reliable Chinese leaker.
Posting on the Weibo social media platform, Instant Digital said that Apple has a limited initial inventory for its first foldable device, and the rollout could be shaped by regional allocation.
The claim follows a recent report out of Japan...
Apple gained ground in India, Latin America, and Europe even as all three markets contracted, according to a new series of Counterpoint Research reports.
Between late March and the beginning of August, Indian smartphone sales ran 14% behind the equivalent stretch of 2025, and the market slipped for three straight weeks once major promotions in July had finished. Apple outperformed every...
Friday August 14, 2026 2:46 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Reuters reports that Apple has trained its own large language model for the China market, rather than relying on a third-party model to power its Apple Intelligence features in the country.
The LLM has been developed with the help of Alibaba, according to the report's sources. The development marks a break from Apple's previous strategy of relying on domestic models to bring generative AI to ...
One guess is it might be a medical device requirement.
To have it approved per-region, yes, but to do so in a software update? Why not have a server somewhere that answers "I'm in region x requests" with "OK, you're in"?
Strange that they're hardcoding these regions into the OS, rather than having a separate mechanism to decide who gets to use the feature. I guess it's not a huge deal, but rolling out an entire OS upgrade just to add
public bool IsEcgAvailable { switch (user.Region) { case China: // new in 8.3 return true; default: return false; } }
Strange that they're hardcoding these regions into the OS, rather than having a separate mechanism to decide who gets to use the feature. I guess it's not a huge deal, but rolling out an entire OS upgrade just to add
public bool IsEcgAvailable { switch (user.Region) { case China: // new in 8.3 return true; default: return false; } }
seems a bit much.
One guess is it might be a medical device requirement.
