Apple Watch Series 8 tipped for hot new feature upgrade

As much as I love the Apple Watch Series 7, I can't help noticing that other smartwatches are bypassing it in some areas – so, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 can give you indications of your body composition, something I have to jump on my smart scales to discover.

So it's good to see that the Apple Watch Series 8 is getting at least one new sensor and a whole bunch of new health tracking features this year – including a sensor that can tell you how hot you are.

Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately in my case – it's not a judgement on your attractiveness; it's a body temperature sensor that can help inform your fitness apps as well as help with cycle tracking for women and non-binary people. Other sensors predicted for 2022 look like they're now going to appear in the Series 9, but there are still plenty of new things coming.

What's new in the Apple Watch Series 8

According to previous rumours the Series 8 will come in a similar design to the Series 7 but there will also be a ruggedised version for serious athletes and outdoor sports enthusiasts. And the latest report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that while blood glucose monitoring is still in development, Apple is going to bring new women's health features to the Apple Watch and iPhone alongside medication management and new sleep and fitness tracking options in the Health app on iPhone.

Gurman also reports that Apple is improving the atrial fibrillation detection for watchOS 9 and adding new workout types and metrics for recording your stats in the Apple Watch Workout app.

One of the most interesting things about Gurman's report is that there may be trouble in paradise: he says that some employees feel that Apple is taking too long to introduce improvements and new features, and that it's overly risk-averse: the Health team hasn't grown in two years, and some key people have left the company. That definitely ties in with my perception that Apple is dragging its health heels a little bit right now, so here's hoping that if it's true Apple can put in the investment it needs to get its trackers back on track.