Apple Continues Its Acquiring Ways, Gulps Down Wearable Tech Firm Sonera

Apple has added another company to its list of acquisitions, recently acquiring Sonera, a company that “is developing a chip-based magnetic sensor.” Apple generally doesn’t announce acquisitions, and this time around it’s no different. This latest acquisition was exposed on the European Union’s website, thanks to the EU’s Digital Markets Act requirement that certain acquisitions must be publicized on the website.

From the EU’s website:

Apple Inc. (“Apple”), through a subsidiary, will acquire certain assets from Sonera, Inc. (“Sonera”) and offer employment to and hire certain Sonera employees. Sonera is developing a chip-based magnetic sensor. Apple (together with its group companies) designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services.

The post merely notes that Sonera “is developing a chip-based magnetic sensor.” However, we can get a little more information about the firm from a 2023 Sonera press release, first discovered by MacRumors:

Sonera has developed a new sensing modality that non-invasively measures magnetic fields generated by the body, in contrast with the electrical sensing techniques commonly used today. This proprietary technology holds the key to making brain activity as easy to measure as heart rate, temperature, and other physiological signals, and enabling data-backed insights related to movement, health, thoughts, and emotions.

The press release also mentions the development of an S1 chip which will measure magnetic fields produced by the electrical currents from neural activity, measuring high-fidelity signals with no need for direct skin contact like traditional electrical sensors. The company says it “is poised to enable an entirely new class of consumer wearables and experiences based on muscle activity.” It .

The chip could lead to advanced prosthetics control, sport performance tracking, discovery of disease biomarkers, continuous monitoring of neuromuscular conditions, and more.

While we can’t know how much the company’s work has progressed, Apple seems to like it, because they put a ring on it.

Sonera joins the lengthy list of acquisition Apple has made this year, including:

• PlasmaSolve s.r.o., which “develops solutions, including a plasma simulation software, to design and optimize plasma-based manufacturing processes.”
• MotionVFX sp. z o.o., which “develops and offers plugins and visual effects software for use within third-party video editing programs.”
• SigScalr, Inc., which “develops a data log management and observability tool.”
• Rabbit 3 Times, Inc. d/b/a Play, which “offers iOS and macOS tools for designing, prototyping, and generating SwiftUI code in real-time”
• Q (Cue) Ltd, which “is developing a sensor-based technology for speech, biometric and audio interfaces.”
• Animato, Inc., which “develops and distributes software that creates virtual avatars for video chats and tutoring.”
• Patchflyer GmbH, which “develops Color.io, a web-based application for color management and grading of digital imaging.”
• PromptAI, which “develops visual intelligence for the home.”