Apple has been forced to modify its latest Apple Watch smartwatches in order to avoid a sales ban in the United States.
The company is removing the blood oxygen tracking feature from the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, sacrificing one of its key health tracking features to keep the flagship wearables on sale.
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Although the feature loss is a major blow, it allows Apple to get around an import ban from the US International Trade Commission pertaining to a patent dispute with the medical device manufacturer Masimo.
The US customs and border agency introduced the ban, but according to Masimo itself (via Bloomberg), the agency has “decided that Apple’s redesign falls outside the scope” of the ban.
Masimo had claimed any software changes would not get be able to get around the ban, but removing the feature completely is a drastic measure that shows the level of strife Apple faced on this issue.
Fortunately for the company, the update only applies to watches sold in the United States, but this could still end up costing the company a significant amount of cash.
The blood oxygen feature for the Apple Watch Ultra Series 2 is likely to be a major part of the purchasing decision for some serious fitness and endurance sports enthusiasts. The watch starts at $799, and there are powerful watches available for much less that can measure blood oxygen.
