Following the dramatic announcement in December that it would ban sales of its flagship Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches, Apple has since been working to get them back on the market and keep them there. The problem is that the ITC ruled that the blood oxygen sensors in the devices infringed patents owned by another company named Masimo.
The initial ban lasted only a few days, with an appeals court granting Apple’s request for a temporary stay, but the future remains uncertain. The company wants the ban suspended during the entire appeal process, which could last a year or more and take us comfortably until the launch of the next generation of Apple Watches, but the ITC, for its part, finds Apple’s arguments in favor of this course of action. “weak and unconvincing” and success is by no means assured.
Updated 01/17/24: The appeals court denied Apple’s motion (PDF) to uphold the sales ban, meaning the ban is back in effect starting January 18 at 5 p.m. Eastern . Apple will either have to sell the Series 9 and Ultra 2 without the blood oxygen feature or stop selling them altogether.
As a result, Apple is hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. Last month, the company began working on a software solution for the offending smartwatches, saying it would resolve the patent dispute to the satisfaction of all parties. This week it emerged that US customs had given approval. We also learned more about the workaround itself, and it turns out the changes are much more drastic than previously thought.
Rather than changing or even redesigning the process by which watches measure blood oxygen, the software update removes this functionality completely. Apple obviously cannot remove the sensor from the device, but it is disabled for this purpose at least by software inhibition. This was revealed by Masimo (as reported by Bloomberg), with whom the customs agency shared its findings.
“Apple’s assertion that its redesigned Watch does not contain pulse oximetry is a positive step toward accountability,” the company commented. “It is especially important that one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world respects the intellectual property rights of small businesses and complies with the ITC’s orders when found in violation. »
The oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensor comes with Apple Watch Series 6 and takes on-demand measurements of your blood oxygen levels as well as background measurements throughout the day and night . Apple emphasizes that this is for wellness purposes only, but this feature has been credited with saving lives.
Apple is hoping this workaround won’t prove necessary — as the Bloomberg analyst points out, it was a highly touted feature and removing it may only slow customer demand — but it’s ready now as plan B in case the extended stay is not granted. Bloomberg reports that cases of “modified” Apple Watches, presumably with the new software installed, have already been sent to retail stores, although employees have been firmly instructed not to sell or even open the packages.
What’s unclear at this point is whether the software solution can or will be retrospectively applied to watches already purchased via a watchOS update; if so, it would seem deeply unfair to owners who paid for a feature they wanted. We’ll report back as soon as we know more, but in the meantime, we advise anyone desperate to have an Apple Watch with blood oxygen measurement to purchase as soon as possible and turn off updates software by opening the Settings app and going to General > Software update > Automatic updates.
