Samsung’s new AI sleep apnea detection is coming to older Galaxy Watches

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch lineup has long featured sleep apnea detection, but the company has now announced a more advanced, AI-powered version that recently received regulatory approval.

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It plans to roll out the enhanced tracking on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Galaxy Watch 9, and Galaxy Ring starting in November 2026.

Older Galaxy Watch models will also receive the capability later.

New sleep apnea feature shows how severe your disorder is

In a press release, the South Korean tech giant said South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recently approved the advanced sleep apnea feature in the region (via SammyFans).

Accordingly, this follows the FDA's approval of the same feature in July 2026 for the USA.

The upgraded sleep apnea detection adds an AI algorithm that analyzes respiratory disruptions and identifies signs of sleep apnea for wearers.

The advanced monitoring tool will use overnight metrics to spot breathing issues and categorize the disorder into three tiers: mild, occasional, and frequent.

This differs from the current sleep apnea utility, which alerts users to general signs rather than categorizing the severity of breathing stoppage.

The Apple Watch also features sleep apnea tracking that gives wearers a categorized reading of elevated and non-elevated, though it requires a longer 30-day period to evaluate nighttime data.

Samsung says that, like the existing sleep apnea tool on the Galaxy Watch, it will utilize wearable metrics to track two sleeping sessions of at least 5 hours each within 10 days to generate a reading on the watch and the Samsung Health app.

Samsung is limiting this to newer-generation Galaxy hardware, including the Galaxy Ring, because of the use of artificial intelligence.

But Samsung's logic is hard to follow when a tiny tracker can get this feature while a large chunk of Galaxy Watches can't. So it appears the company is keeping it exclusive to newer devices.

Samsung Sleep Apnea rollout timeline

The upgrade is slated to ship in November for the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Galaxy Watch 9, and Galaxy Ring in South Korea.

With FDA clearance already secured, it could expand to the same hardware in the US next month, in December, or as late as early 2027.

It’s unclear when it will launch in other markets, but based on the previous cadence of other Galaxy wearable features, we could see it hit these devices in Q1 2027.

The tool could arrive with the One UI 9 Watch update, which is still in beta and under testing, though older models might get it in a separate firmware build.

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Older Galaxy Watch models won't get the new Sleep Apnea

Other Galaxy Watch models, including the original Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Watch 8 (Classic), and Galaxy Watch 7 on Wear OS 7 or later, will also receive the tool.

It’s unclear if the Galaxy Watch FE will also gain the new sleep apnea tracking, since it runs on an older Exynos W920 chipset rather than the Exynos W1000 or Snapdragon SW6100 Wear Elite SoC.

Samsung introduced sleep apnea detection with the Galaxy Watch 4, but Samsung confirms that, along with the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 6, it won't get the more advanced tracking.