Apple to halt sales of the Watch Series 9, Watch Ultra 2 in the US: Here’s why

Those planning to upgrade to an Apple Watch Series 9 or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 may have to put their plans to do so on hold for a while. Why? Apple plans to stop selling the two models in the United States as early as next week, owing to a patent dispute. The iPhone maker said that starting this Thursday, the aforementioned models will be taken off apple.com, and off the shelves in stores from December 24.

All you need to know about the patent dispute

The decision follows an ongoing dispute with Masimo, a US-based medical device maker. The dispute happens to be over one particular feature in the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Namely, the blood oxygen level monitoring feature.

The feature was called “life-saving” by Apple when it launched the two devices in September. However, the US International Trade Commission ruled that with the feature, Apple had violated Masimo’s pulse oximeter patent.

Pulse oximeters, though they’ve been around for a long time, only came into the limelight during the Covid-19 pandemic. The device, which clips onto a user’s finger, uses light-based technology to read the oxygen levels in one’s blood.

US President Joe Biden was given 60 days to review the decision before the watches were potentially banned. The same ends on December 25.

What happens now?

While Apple says that it is taking all measures possible to ensure that the ruling goes in its favour, it is also taking measures to comply with an import ban, should the same come into effect. The company also added that it plans to contest the decision and has also submitted evidence regarding how a ban would negatively impact Apple Watch users who rely on the health-related features of the smartwatches.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first such dispute between Apple and Masimo. In October 2022, Apple filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Masimo as well, claiming they copied patented features of the Apple Watch to their W1 medical smartwatch.

ALSO READ: Apple Watch Series 9, Watch Ultra 2 launched with one-hand gestures, on-device Siri

Now, it is also important to note here, that if a ban were to go into effect, the same would affect all Apple Watch models from Series 6 and later, and all models of the Apple Watch Ultra imported after the end of the review period. However, the import ban, as per the company, will not affect the Apple Watch SE.

Whether the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Watch Ultra 2 will return to shelves soon, remains to be seen as of now.