Apple Enhances Heart-Health Features on Watch in India Amid Shifting Smartwatch Demand

Apple is highlighting advanced heart-health readings on its Watch in India as smartwatch shipments decline but health-focused demand grows.

NEW DELHI: Apple is putting more detailed heart-health readings at the centre of its Watch pitch in India, where overall smartwatch shipments are declining but demand for advanced models is growing. Eric Jue, director of Apple Watch Worldwide Product Marketing, told TOI that the redesigned sensor in the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 can measure heart rate as often as every five seconds in the background, including while users are moving. Apple says it achieved the higher frequency without reducing battery life. "The goal of this new sensor really was to try to find a way that we could take everything we've learned over the last many years developing these sensors to design something that could deliver continuous, higher frequency heart rate and heart rate variability," Jue said. The push comes as India's smartwatch shipments fell 4% year-on-year to 6.4 million units in April-June 2026, according to IDC. Advanced-smartwatch shipments - a category in which Apple operates - however, rose 94.8%, lifting their share of the category from 2.2% to 4.5%. IDC said Apple, Samsung and Garmin led that segment, with all three recording strong growth, helped by sales of earlier-generation devices. It did not disclose Apple's individual market share. Apple is working with doctors in Delhi on investigator-supported studies testing the Watch on Indian users in clinical settings. Steve Waydo, Apple's director of health sensing, said more frequent background readings "is a hardware enabled feature". The redesigned system changes both the optical components and internal chips, he said, so older Watches cannot gain the same capability through a software update.