The deal actually happened in May, per a notice on the European Commission website flagged in a report Tuesday (Sept. 8) by the website Apple Insider.
Sonera, whose website has since been taken down, makes non-invasive sensors that can measure the brain’s neural signals, the Apple Insider report said, with health benefits that include muscle monitoring to active thought control of devices.
According to the report, it has already been proven that an Apple Vision Pro could be controlled by thought, albeit with an implant in the user’s head. Now, Apple has acquired a company whose tools can detect magnetic muscle activity.
Sonera co-founder Nishita Deka said in 2020 that her company hoped to make brain imaging both portable and affordable, the report added.
“We are trying to detect brain activity using cheaper, faster methods that are still high-performance,” she said.
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“That’s our north star,” she said. “We do a kind of functional imaging, a direct imaging of activities in the brain.”
And in 2023, the company said it would make “brain activity as easy to measure as heart rate, temperature, and other physiological signals,” which could lead to an “entirely new class of consumer wearables.”
The Apple Insider report notes that magnetic sensors are thought to be superior to electrical ones, as electrical signals are dampened by the skull. This could lead to thought control, without users having to have implants.
The news comes one day before John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, is set to kick off a year-long rollout of products, marking the longest period of device releases in the company’s history.
The Wednesday (Sept. 9) “Surprise and Shine” event is expected to include the reveal of the latest iPhones and Apple Watches, with a foldable iPhone and a smart home hub with a screen, and the latest AirPods, Apple TV, HomePod mini, iPad mini, iMac, MacBook Pro, all expected to roll out by early 2027.
All of these products represent a “beautiful place for someone else’s AI to live,” PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote in a column Tuesday about what she’ll be watching when Apple introduces its new devices this week.
“AI is becoming a consumer utility, and consumer utilities live on smartphones, earbuds and kitchen counters. Apple has the best distribution in consumer technology to a user base that outspends Google’s,” Webster wrote.
“Distribution without a product of your own means you’re a tollbooth for others to pass through. And toll collectors get regulated or disintermediated. The Steve Jobs comparison is about amazing products. The problem Ternus has is a platform problem.”
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