1. Beijing iTrason Technologies Co., Ltd.
Located in Beijing in 2015. Released 1st generation USB-C B/W 80 element ultrasound probe (without battery) in 2016, 2nd generation B/W 128 element probe was released in 2017, and 3rd color doppler series were released in 2018. Cardiac ultrasound probe is under R&D, and shall be released in the end of 2020.
All probes are compatible with Android & Windows smart devices. With advantages of low power consumption and high imaging resolution, iTrason ultrasound is well acceptable in North America (OEM) and Asia.
2. Sonostar Technologies Co., Ltd.
Located in Guangzhou in 2010. Launched 1st generation wireless ultrasound probe (inner battery) but feedback was not good due to bad image resolution, then released 2nd products in 2017 starting to getting approval from users. The product line covers 80 element/128 element/192 element/single head/double head probe, and this complex product line will result in confusions due to some unpopular models eventhough Sonostar has gained some success in some countries.
It supports iOS, Android, and Windows devices
3. Wuhan Youkey Bio-Medical Electronics Co.,Ltd
Located in Wuhan and founded in 2015. Wireless ultrasound probe (inner battery) D7 & D8 series have good resolution and users are satisfied, but disadvantage is that the price is too high and many customers can’t accept. That’s the reason why they can’t spread quickly.
It supports iOS, Android, and Windows devices.
4. Healcerion Co., Ltd.
Located in Wuhan in 2013. Wireless ultrasound probe (inner battery) SONO 300C & 300L were gained success in 2017 but lost some market shares in the recent 2 years. Main disadvantages are too big size and not good enough image resolution. It supports iOS and Android devices.
5. Clarius Mobile Health
Located in Canada and the 1st generation probe (inner battery) was heavy and very big size, so many customers don’t like it. Then Clarius released 2nd products which are smaller size. Image resolution is good and supports iOS and Android devices. Price is decreased much recently. End user price is $4,900-$6,900 in North America.
6. Butterfly Network, Inc.
Located in USA, Butterfly released the 3 in 1 USB ultrasound probe (inner battery) in 2018 officially. At first, it only supports iOS devices and also supports Android system in 2020. Butterfly deosn’t set up distribution network and sells to end users directly. The end user price is $1,999 and $420/year in North America. If users plan to use 2-3 years, it is cost-effective. But it will be a little expensive if using over 5 years.
7. Philips
Philips Lumify was released in 2017 and the port type is micro-USB. Now Lumify uses Type-C port for the USB cable and supports Android platform. Image is very good, but price is very high. The end user price is around 6,000 euros in Europe.
8. GE Healthcare
GE Vscan uses integrated design-probe and monitor, and is mainly used for cardiac. The 1st generation product is with very normal imaging quality, and 2nd one has better resolution but not good enough. Main users complain that the battery continuously working time is too short (around 1.5 hours). The end user price of EXTEND R2 is $4,995 in USA.
Not all handheld POC ultrasound manufacturers are not listed here. Some choose USB cable for the connection, and some choose wireless connection. And an interesting thing is that only iTrason doesn’t place inner batteries. Inner batteries can improve the compatibility to the terminal devices but will consume power faster at the same time. Wireless connection will be more convenient to use but not as stable as with USB connection, especially in strong interference scenes like ICU.
As technology improves and costs decrease, more and more doctors will use this small ultrasound device. Point of care ultrasound will be also more and more popular.