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Apple has announced that it will be halting sales of its newest flagship, Apple Watches, as soon as this week in the US. That includes the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
This comes shortly after an ITC ruling that was part of a long-running patent dispute between Apple and Masimo (a medical technology company) around the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor technology. The ruling was first made in January of this year, and it was upheld in October.
Apparently, ten years ago, Apple contacted Masimo to discuss collaboration between the two companies. However, according to Masimo, Apple used these meetings to obtain information and expertise, as well as hiring some of its employees before launching the Apple Watch. This sounds very familiar to those who have been following Sonos’ lawsuits against Google and Apple. Sonos claimed that the two companies worked with Sonos to bring Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to its speakers, then were able to get inside information to build multi-room audio into their own smart speakers.
Sales will cease on December 21
According to a note that Apple sent to 9to5Mac, the company will cease sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 on its website after 3 PM ET on Thursday, December 21. At the same time, in-store inventory will no longer be available from Apple retail locations after December 24.
Remember that the ITC can only impact the sales of these watches from Apple. Therefore, you will still be able to buy them from other retailers like Best Buy and Amazon.
Because the ruling is only about the blood oxygen monitoring capabilities, only the Series 9 and Ultra 2 will be banned from being sold. Apple will continue to sell the Watch SE since it does not have blood oxygen monitoring available.
Apple is also stressing that any Apple Watch sold with blood oxygen monitoring capabilities sold before today is unaffected. You will still get updates to your Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and it will continue to work as expected.