Apple has a solution to the Apple Watch sales ban. But not everyone will be happy with this arrangement.
Apple comes up with a solution to the Apple Watch sales ban
Apple announced in a statement last December that it would stop selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States. As a result, Americans could no longer purchase the two newest Apple Watches from Apple itself from Thursday, December 21. The sales ban on the Apple Watch is the result of a patent case between Apple and the medical company Masimo.
Apple now has a (temporary) solution to the problem. Apple now has an Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 where the function to measure the oxygen in your blood has disappeared (or is ‘off’). This allows Apple to circumvent the import ban in America. This solution will probably be temporary. The sales ban had been temporarily lifted anyway, but Apple now decided to put its money where its mouth is and turned off the function to prevent further problems.
According to usually reliable Apple analyst Mark Gurman, the modified versions of the Apple Watch have now reached American stores. It is not yet known when (or if) they will go on sale.
Disabling this function is a temporary solution
The removal of the saturation function appears to be only temporary, because Apple (according to Gurman) has already started a software update that adjusts the algorithm of the function. This allows Apple to circumvent the sales ban on the Apple Watch.
Patents result in sales bans
The medical company Masimo has a patent on the technology behind the oxygen meter, which Apple also uses in the Apple Watch. For this reason, the company already requested a ban on the sale of the Apple Watch in 2021. Now a committee has ruled in favor of Masimo, which has major consequences for Apple in the United States.
And in the Netherlands…?
In the Netherlands we will probably not notice much of the sales ban. The Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 may remain in stores here. If the matter is not resolved quickly, there is a chance that Apple’s stock will become more limited.