The newest Samsung smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 3, is striving to provide blood pressure and blood oxygen monitoring, even if those aren't approved for US markets yet. But its electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) feature finally has FDA clearance.
Samsung announced Wednesday that the Galaxy Watch 3's on-wrist EKG feature has FDA clearance, which is good news for anyone waiting on a Samsung watch with EKG in the US. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 added an EKG function last year, but didn't get FDA clearance.
Samsung's global PR confirmed the news about the FDA clearance, but didn't give a time frame for when the EKG feature would arrive for US customers, nor say whether or when those features would finally be unlocked for US owners of the Galaxy Watch Active 2.
The Watch 3's blood pressure and oxygen monitoring features are currently only cleared for use in South Korea, and the blood pressure monitor requires calibration with a blood pressure cuff in order to use.
We'll update this story when we know more.