Apple appears to have found an alternate way to circumvent the import ban on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 devices, potentially allowing them to resume sales in the US. In a letter to an appeals court judge, health technology and consumer electronics company Masimo, involved in a patent dispute with Apple, revealed that the tech giant could sidestep the ban by eliminating the Blood Oxygen app from future Apple Watch units sold in the US.
As stated in the letter, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) concluded that Apple’s redesign falls beyond the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) ban on the two devices. Apple assured CBP that its “Redesigned Watch Products definitively do not contain pulse oximetry functionality.” Details pertaining to the CBP decision are confidential, and no public version exists at present, according to Masimo’s letter. However, Reuters suggests that the CBP decision’s validity may hinge on agreement from the ITC.
Reportedly, Apple has dispatched modified Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 units to its stores in the US, but these locations are instructed not to open or sell them until receiving approval. Bloomberg notes that eliminating the app was deemed the quickest method to avoid reinstating the ban, though sacrificing a once-prominent Apple Watch feature is a significant concession. A federal appeals court may consider Apple’s motion to extend the stay on the ban, granted pending an appeal, as early as this week.
Additionally, 9to5Mac reports that existing Watch users with pulse oximetry features won’t be affected. Nonetheless, since the Watch Series 6’s release in 2020, Apple has included the Blood Oxygen app, and it’s conceivable that a new version may be introduced to affected units once the patent issue is resolved.
(Source: 9to5Mac)
