Recently, Bloomberg reported that Apple selected some employees to conduct a blood sugar APP test. During the test, the subjects actively monitored their blood sugar through various devices on the market, and then recorded the changes in blood sugar levels caused by food intake. This study may allow Apple to more deeply integrate third-party blood sugar tracking into its own products. Apple has been planning blood sugar monitoring for a long time. In 2010, Jobs led the acquisition of RareLight, a non-invasive blood sugar monitoring company. In 2015, Apple's frontier exploration department XDG took over the non-invasive blood sugar detection project and has invested a lot of money in recent years for concept verification.

In February last year, Apple's non-invasive blood sugar monitoring project was reported to have a major breakthrough. According to reports, Apple is developing a silicon photonic chip and a measurement process called "optical absorption spectroscopy", which collects the optical absorption spectrum reflected after light is irradiated to the skin and compares it with the characteristic spectrum to determine the glucose concentration in the human body. The technology has been compared with standard tests of blood drawn from veins and samples punctured from the skin and is considered feasible. It is reported that Apple has classified blood sugar research as "highly confidential", which is related to the strong internal competition environment in the field of blood sugar monitoring. Especially with the rise of CGM, the industry competition has become more intense.

In a research report by Debon Securities, it was mentioned that the global use of CGM in the field of blood sugar monitoring has increased from 9.5% in 2015 to 21.4% in 2020, and the market size in 2020 reached 5.7 billion US dollars. As the commercial potential has been verified, the industry has made frequent moves in recent years. Old powerhouses Abbott and Dexcom have extended their sights to the over-the-counter market, and OTC CGM has been approved by the FDA, driving CGM into the consumer medical era; veteran player Senseonics launched a 365-day CGM system to reduce user time costs and improve experience; newcomers such as Roche have begun to accelerate their entry, and the first CGM product has now obtained the CE mark; Medtronic and Abbott have reached a cooperative relationship to jointly develop a comprehensive CGM system based on product integration.

The field of blood glucose monitoring is already full of strong players, but Apple's move still has a significant impact on the market. On the day the news leaked last year, the stock prices of Dexcom and Abbott both fluctuated, and the two companies once fell by more than 3% during the trading session. A similar situation has occurred again recently. According to statistics from Wall Street Journal, after the news of the blood glucose app test came out, the stock prices of diabetes-related equipment manufacturers generally fell. Dexcom, Tandem Diabetes Care, and Insulet Corp closed down by about 1.9%, 1.3%, and 1.7%, respectively.

Investment and breakthroughs at the technical level are certainly worthy of attention, but for traditional practitioners in the medical field, Apple's huge user base, algorithm accumulation, and first-mover advantage in wearable devices may be more threatening. It is reported that Apple's ultimate goal is to add the blood glucose monitoring system it is researching to the Apple Watch. Relying on its own brand reputation and ecological closed loop, it can form a dimensionality reduction attack on similar products, and its ancillary functions are not limited to the medical field. Consumer added value alone can be converted into higher pricing. However, since Apple has chosen the non-invasive track, its commercial transformation is destined to face higher barriers. This may be one of the reasons why Apple has not yet launched a product after more than ten years of polishing.

Previously, Google and Samsung had made in-depth layouts around non-invasive blood glucose monitoring, and their product forms included common categories in life such as glasses and rings. Although they all gained capital favor and consumer attention in the early stages, the accuracy of monitoring has become an unavoidable problem. In February this year, the US FDA also issued a warning, clarifying that the FDA has not authorized, approved or approved any smart watch or smart ring for self-measurement or estimation of blood sugar values. The use of these devices may lead to inaccurate measurement of blood sugar levels. However, there is still room for breakthroughs in the technology of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring. Recently, HAGAR announced a clinical study data on the comparison of non-invasive continuous blood glucose monitor GWave and traditional CGM. 97% of GWave readings matched traditional CGM. In addition, even if it does not reach the medical diagnosis level for the time being, products that can provide portable and painless blood glucose monitoring references still have a wide audience.

The tenth edition of the IDF Diabetes Map shows that the total number of adult diabetes patients in China is as high as 140 million, ranking first among all countries in the world. In addition, the awareness of daily blood sugar monitoring has not yet been popularized, and the market has considerable room for growth. At present, more and more local brands have smelled the business opportunities, choosing to focus on non-invasive advantages and taking a different development direction from BGM and CGM. For example, recently, Jingce Medical and Lepu Medical have both been approved for non-invasive blood glucose meter products, relying on the characteristics of non-invasive, painless, and no consumables to open up a new market. According to QYR statistics and forecasts, the global non-invasive blood glucose meter market sales reached US$4.296 billion in 2023, and is expected to reach US$14.68 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 18.36% (2024-2030).

In terms of consumption, North America is currently the world's largest consumer market, with a market share of 35.70% in 2023, followed by Europe and China, with 35.66% and 7.89% respectively. It is expected that China will grow the fastest in the next few years, with a CAGR of approximately 21.31% during 2024-2030. The rapidly expanding market can create more opportunities for companies to experiment, and the competition between technology giants and professional players also brings more possibilities for product forms.

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