Apple building team to develop own health chips, process biometric data

Apple has a team exploring a custom processor that can make better sense of health information coming off sensors from deep inside its devices, job listings show, it was reported is a US daily. It currently designs custom chips for its iPhone and is reportedly going to switch to custom processors for its Mac line-up of computers by as early as 2020.

“A July 10 job posting from Apple’s Health Sensing hardware team says: We are looking for sensor ASIC architects to help develop ASICs for new sensors and sensing systems for future Apple products. We have openings for analog as well as digital ASIC architects,” the report added. It is not clear what the sensors would measure, but it is most likely to be some data from the body.  Apple has been interested in healthcare in general and currently, its Apple Watches come with optical sensors that can measure heart rate.

The iPhone features health-monitoring apps and the company’s areas of interest include exercise, cardiac health, and sleep quality through its acquisition of the health monitor Beddit.