MediaTek wants the smartphone to be the only portable device that users carry on them, for any and all kinds of uses and activities. While the world does now rely on other wearables such as smartwatches and health-oriented fitness bands to do the task of tracking one’s health, the company has developed a module to do all of that as well, much like how Samsung has integrated heart scanners in their flagship smartphones.
While only four of the features that the biosensor from MediaTek can be found on the Samsung Galaxy line of smartphones, that is the closest to bio-sensing that phones today have. With ECG and PPG scanning in tow, the Sensio will be the first sensor to offer those features to phones. Currently, Maxim offers Samsung their bio-sensors. MediaTek will hope to overtake Maxim and Samsung respectively in the field, as it takes steps to broaden its portfolio to offer more than just chipsets.
With the kind of flexibility that Sensio offers to manufacturers by letting them embed the sensor on any kind of smartphone, we should be seeing quite a few entry-level and mid-range smartphones sporting this bio-sensor with the beginning of 2018. There will also supposedly be a bevy of third-party add-ons available in order to maximise the usage and application of the sensor. We will have to wait and see at least until the second of 2018 whether Sensio has made an impact on the wearables and smartphone market just yet, however.