Apple is avoiding a U.S. sales ban on its latest smartwatches by removing their pulse oximetry features.
Moving forward, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the U.S. will have the features disabled to no longer infringe two patents from medical equipment company Masimo.
The International Trade Committee (ITC) ruled in favour of Masimo in December 2023, ordering Apple to stop selling the wearables in the United States. Apple subsequently appealed the decision and proposed a redesign of its wearables to comply with the ruling. The redesign involved disabling the pulse oximetry functionality, which allows users to monitor their blood oxygen saturation.
The ban only applies in the U.S.; it’s currently unclear if the feature will be removed from existing wearables.
This is the latest development in an ongoing legal battle between Masimo and Apple, which previously resulted in Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales being paused during the holidays. Apple also requested the appeals court pause the Apple Watch ban throughout the appeals process, which could come down on January 15th.
Via: 9to5Mac
