Beyond Steps: Samsung redefines health tracking with AI and antioxidants, in big watch, Flip and Fold reveal

Samsung has unveiled new Flip and Fold phones and a line up of technology it says will revolutionise personal health, helping you live longer. Here’s what you need to know.

Samsung is intensifying its push into the $US70.3bn ($107.7bn) health wearables market, becoming the first company to launch an antioxidant index tracker on a smart watch, as well as unveil a new artificial intelligence-powered running coach.

The antioxidant index is designed to measure how many excess free radicals are in a person’s body, and what they can do to neutralise them to help combat ageing and a range of chronic diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The running coach coincides with Samsung sponsoring next month’s Sydney Marathon and is designed to help prevent injuries by gauging a person’s fitness level after a 12-minute run and then creating a personalised program.

Samsung unveiled the new feature at its Galaxy Unpacked event in Brooklyn, New York overnight on Wednesday, where it also showcased bigger, thinner and brighter Z Flip and Fold smart phones.

It revealed two new watches, Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch Classic 8, which is 11 per cent slimmer than previous generations.

The devices will run on a new UI 8 operating system, which Samsung says is designed to be “AI-first” and handle more multi-tasking on one device.

Samsung Australia head of wearables Kylie Mason said the new health features were designed to be more personal and meaningful.

Samsung's new Galaxy Watch 8 (left) and Classic 8 (right), which features a rotating stainless steel bezel.

Antioxidant index and running coach

“When our first smart watch came out in 2013 … they might have had a heart rate sensor in them, a little bit of GPS, kind of get messages through them – and that was kind of it,” Ms Mason said.

“They were such general products, generalised for the masses. It wasn’t really for you. So the evolution from our side has been really about trying to bring them together and make them a much more personalised device and hopefully prevent anything that could come down the line that could be considered a chronic illness, or picking up things that you might not realise like irregular heartbeats or antioxidants.”

Ms Mason said many communities weren’t aware that their diets were deficient in fruit and vegetables. This is where the new antioxidant index comes in to make people more aware of their intake and how they can adopt healthier habits.

How it works is that someone removes their Galaxy smart watch and places their thumb on the rear sensor, which measures carotenoids – the pigment found in many fruit and vegetables – on the skin.

“In the ’80s we were told to have five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Well that’s what this is in a tech thing,” Ms Mason said.

“Essentially it’s telling you that either you do not have enough fruit and vegetables (in your diet) – or maybe you do – and then providing you a guided basis to improve your overall health.”

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Classic 8 has a rotating steel bezel.

Ms Mason said the running coach was designed to prevent injuries by measuring a person’s current fitness during a 12-minute trial run. She said most people injure themselves running by over-estimating their capabilities running farther or faster than their capabilities.

“Basically after about 12 minutes it will give you an overview of the run and then provide you with guidance for whether you’re running 5km or up to a marathon,” she said.

Apple last month also released a “workout buddy” as part of its software overhaul at its Worldwide Developers Conference. But to access that feature, people need to run with their iPhone because the Apple Watch chip isn’t powerful enough yet to handle the AI needed to provide real-time updates during a run.

Health push

Ms Mason said Samsung’s version didn’t need people to exercise with their mobile phones.

“The data will come back into Samsung Health (app) afterwards. When you’re running you’ll see what’s happening on your watch, especially if you have a cellular device but it won’t probably give you all that data all the time,” she said.

The Galaxy Watch Classic is priced from $899 and has a rotating stainless steel bezel. The Classic model is priced from $649.

Apple and Samsung are pushing more into the health market, with the new Galaxy Watches also able to detect sleep apnoea, while Apple has turned its AirPods Pro 2 earphones into hearing aids.

The global wearable technology market is worth $US70.3bn, according to MarketsandMarkets, and is expected to surge to $US152.82bn by 2029.

The Z Fold7 has a stronger Armor Flex hinge and Corning Gorilla Glass, which is 50 per cent thicker than the Z Fold6.

Samsung Australia head of mobile experience Eric Chou said people were demanding more from their phones, and the way health information was currently accessed was “fragmented”.

“Everyone gets told you should sleep more, or you should eat better or exercise more, but it’s more just about how is the device that you’re using able to actually change the small behavioural things that actually over time, will accumulate to something that’s more meaningful,” Mr Chou said.

“How do we unify a lot of that information from having the right sensors on your watch, aggregating that into a one-stop shop being Samsung Health, but also making it more personable, so that people actually feel like they want to use it.”

Mr Chou said data was protected by Knox Matrix which offers “quantum-resistant encryption”.

“The encryption code is now much longer. So it does take a longer effort, even on a quantum computer, to try and crack it,” he said.

Z Fold7 phone

The new Z Fold7 phone is 8.9mm thick, slightly more than the S25 Ultra, which measures 8.2mm but significantly less than the Fold6, which was 12.1mm. Unfolded the Fold7 is 4.2mm – thinner than the S25 Edge, which is 5.8mm.

The display is also 11 per cent bigger than the Fold6, measuring 8 inches. It has a 200MP wide camera, the same as the S25 Ultra. Mr Chou said its 10MP front camera was “2.5 times clearer”, and has a stronger Armor Flex hinge and Corning Gorilla Glass, which is 50 per cent thicker than the Z Fold6.

“The way the hinge has been designed, which is now the new Armor Flex design, is to provide greater resistance to pressure and also eliminate the crease. You can still see it (the crease) but it’s definitely less,” Mr Chou said.

But the sleeker phone does not come with an S Pen, which adds more bulk. Samsung says the devices still support the stylus and is continuing to evaluate its use.

Both the Fold and Flip have been equipped with the latest Galaxy AI features. With the Fold, the larger screen allows people to display an original photo and an edited photo side-by-side in two windows.

The Flip can access Google Gemini, turning the phone into a personal assistant by making styling suggestions and coaching about the best way to pose in photographs, for example.

Z Flip7 phone

The Flip7 features a 4.1 inch cover display versus 3.4 inches in the previous model. The main display is 6.9 inches with thinner bezels, meaning the waterproofing now has to be built into the circuit board, and up to 2600 nits of brightness.

The battery has been upgraded to 4300mAh, which Mr Chou said delivered up to 31 hours of video playback on a single charge. It has a 50MP wide camera and a 12MP ultra-wide lens.

The main display on the Z Flip7 is 6.9 inches with thinner bezels, meaning the waterproofing now has to be built into the circuit board.

The Z Fold7 is priced from $2899, while the Flip7 is priced from $1799.

A more affordable Flip7 FE is priced from $1499. Mr Chou said there were no plans to release a cheaper Fold.

“We do know that the Flip form factor is the one that typically gets people into Galaxy and then, of course, once they get into Galaxy we have a fairly high retention rate and we’re then able to move them across to the other devices,” Mr Chou said.

The new devices can be pre-ordered from Thursday and general availability is from August 1.

Originally published as Beyond Steps: Samsung redefines health tracking with AI and antioxidants, in big watch, Flip and Fold reveal