Samsung and National Sleep Foundation boost partnership to develop more sleep technologies

Technology company will be using insights from the NSF to improve its wearable innovations

The Samsung Galaxy Watch6 series during a media preview in Seoul. The new wearable devices come with improved health features. Alvin R Cabral / The National

Samsung Electronics and the National Sleep Foundation have boosted co-operation in addressing growing sleep disorders with the help of new technologies.

The organisations, which already have a long-standing partnership, are collaborating to further understand how to integrate the latest innovations into sleep monitoring, a growing health trend, they said on the sidelines of the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Z foldable smartphones in Seoul.

The Seoul-based company launched its latest Galaxy Watch6 series at the event, which comes with improved health features.

Samsung, the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer and a top maker of smartwatches, will be using the enhanced partnership to improve its wearable technologies with insights from the NSF to benefit users, Hon Pak, head of Samsung's digital health unit, said in a media roundtable.

“We are a hardware electronics company at the end of the day … we don't pretend to know all things. But we do know how to engage consumers, billions of which literally have our devices,” he said.

“We also believe that's a pathway by which we can take the science, learnings and expertise to our platform, and we can distribute that understanding.”

The NSF, meanwhile, is bringing “best practices” from behavioural science into a new programme launched this year that seeks to understand the problems people encounter with sleep and how to address them, said John Lopos, chief executive of the Washington-based non-profit.

“There's no better time for this type of collaboration. When we think about our mission and what we are trying to do with the public, this really is a time when we are embracing technology,” Mr Lopos said.

Technology companies are working to integrate health services into devices, especially with the advent of smartwatches, the most advanced of which now have features such as for monitoring heart rate, blood oxygen, ECG and sleep.

Sleep plays a significant role in physical well-being, as it helps balance hormones and maintain health, and it also plays a factor in behaviour, according to mental health platform Canopi.

The smartwatch market, however, continued to contract in the first quarter of 2023, posting a “slight” decrease year-on-year, according to Counterpoint Research.

Samsung has long been the No 2 smartwatch brand, having commanded a 9 per cent market share in the first three months of this year. However, it is now in a virtual tie with India's Fire Boltt. Apple has more than a quarter of market share, thanks to its popular Watch series.

Samsung and the NSF did not go into the specifics of the partnership, but they said it would be centred on exchanging expertise, the insights of which will help develop potential new technologies for sleep monitoring.

“There's an increasing priority for us, and it's because we believe so strongly that technology is something that's going to help the public be their best,” Mr Lopos said.