December is one of the best times for the smartwatch market, as the wearables make great gifts. But amid the holiday shopping season, Apple is halting the sale of some of its Watch models due to a patent dispute.
Apple will stop selling the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 on its website in the USA on December 21. Furthermore, in-story inventory will no longer be available at Apple retail locations after December 24. The company confirmed this in a statement to 9to5Mac.
Apple will continue to sell other Watch models, but the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will be off the shelves because of a patent dispute concerning the blood oxygen technology.
Apple is making a preemptive move
Here's a bit of a background story. Medical technology company Masimo sued Apple for infringing on several of its patents. Later, Masimo took its case to the ITC (International Trade Commission). In October, the ITC upheld a judge's ruling that Apple infringed on Masimo's patents for blood oxygen scanning technology.
The case was sent to the Biden administration for a 60-day Presidential Review Period, the latter of which will end on December 25. President Biden could veto the ruling, or it might not. Apple argues in favor of a veto, claiming that banning the Watch in the USA could not only hurt its revenue but impact other retailers.
Although Apple does not agree with the ITC's ban, the company decided to preemptively comply with the Trade Commission's ruling before the Presidential Review Period expires on December 25. The Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are the latest models from Apple,
In theory, it might also be possible for Apple to circumvent this ban by disabling the disputed features through firmware updates, but the company hasn't yet shown any signs of wanting to do this.
In any case, this chain of events might allow Samsung to promote its Galaxy Watch series featuring blood oxygen sensors. On the other hand, Apple's preemptive move might also lead to many more Apple Watch scalpers popping up online as we approach the end of the year.
If you are looking for a new smartwatch capable of reading blood oxygen levels and many other health and fitness parameters, you can now buy the Galaxy Watch 6 at a discount from Samsung's website.
Image Credit: Apple
