American technology major Apple has been a pioneer in bringing life-saving heart rate scanner in older Watch models and the electrocardiogram (ECG) reader on Watch series 4. Now, the company has reportedly developed and an advanced sensor capable of detecting poisonous air around iPhones and smart wearable users.
Apple's aforementioned technology patent (number—20190025271 via Patently Apple) was filed in 2018 and now the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) publicly revealed the details giving us the glimpse of what the Cupertino-based company has developed for the benefit of the humankind.
As per the applications, Apple's sensor can be placed in its iPhone and also in small compact structures like the Apple Watches, as well. Once activated, it can intuitively detect deadly Carbon monoxide (CO), as it is initially non-irritating, colourless, odourless gas and is virtually undetectable before it is too late. It reportedly contributes to more than 5,500 deaths in the US alone.
Not just CO, Apple advanced sensor can also be able to detect "nitrogen dioxide (NO.sub.2), nitrogen monoxide (NO), sulfur dioxide (SO.sub.2), methane (CH.sub.4), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and wherein the components of a gas mixture other than the target gas comprises poisoning species including siloxanes, sulfates, phosphates and chlorides, and/or interfering species such as water vapor," notes Apple in the patent application.
As of now, there is no word when Apple intends to bring it to the iPhones or Watches. Since the patent is in development stage, it might a few years before it can be incorporated in the consumer electronics goods.
Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier in the week, in an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, told that the Cupertino-based company's biggest contribution to people will be in the form of health care and going by the latest development, Apple is on the right track. Rest assured, future iPhones and Watches will be apocalypse-ready.
