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Your Apple Watch band options may soon extend far beyond leather, "Sport" or Hermès. 。
Apple was granted a patent Tuesday describing "modular functional band links for wearable devices." The links are described to be "connected to one or more other of the band links and/or the wearable device and include one or more electronic components." The news was first reported by Apple Insider.。
While the patent is broad, its potential uses include adding modules to the Apple Watch, thus expanding its functionality. That could mean anything from attaching a camera to an additional battery, GPS, buttons and more. 。
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Several health-related modules are suggested, too -- a thermometer, a blood pressure sensor, a sweat sensor and more. 。 There's precedent for this. In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at a new medical product in an interview with 。The Telegraph 。
. He said Apple didn’t want to put the Apple Watch through the FDA, but the company wouldn’t be opposed to making adjacent products.。
"You can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it -- maybe an app, maybe something else," Cook said.。Credit: APPLE/USPTO 。
A modular structure would allow the Watch to be a lot more customizable. Users who require frequent blood pressure monitoring could purchase a module for that, while other users who want to have a SIM card for the Watch could add that and so on. One could imagine modules receiving a lot of third-party support, too. 。
There's no way to know if the modular watch strap will ever be launched, but Apple has signaled that its wearable offerings, especially in the health space, will likely go beyond the Apple Watch. Stay tuned, in other words.。
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