Apple has stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US because of an ongoing legal battle with health tech company Masimo over the blood oxygen detection feature in those watches.
The US International Trade Commission, the federal agency that handles trade-related mandates, previously issued an order that would prohibit Apple from importing the Series 9 and Ultra 2. The decision came after a US judge ruled in January that Apple infringed on Masimo patents related to the technology used in Apple’s blood oxygen sensing system. The order was under presidential review until Dec. 25 and became final on Dec. 26 after United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai decided not to reverse the ITC’s decision.
The Apple Watch is one of Apple’s most important products, helping push the company’s wearables, home and accessories business to be its second-largest product category behind the iPhone. Apple has previously said the size of its wearables unit alone equals that of a Fortune 150 company.
Apple began preemptively pausing online sales of the affected watches on Dec. 21 and halted in-store sales on Dec. 24 in anticipation of the order being finalized. The decision specifically applies to sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 through Apple in the US, and the watches are still for sale on Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart and Target’s websites at the time of writing. The Apple Watch SE is not affected.
