One of the best ways to get big savings on the latest Apple gear is to shop on the brand's own refurbished store. It offers fixed up versions of used products for a lower price. You get a quality item and can save some cash in the process. We regularly see top Apple Watch deals on the refurbished store, and Apple's latest smartwatch models look set to join the store soon.
Apple is teasing us with the prospect of nabbing a refurbished Apple Watch Ultra 2 or Apple Watch Series 9 from its US online store. The Cupertino tech giant added greyed-out labels for the latest smartwatches on the refurbished page of its website. Such labels are usually tech speak for "coming soon, keep your wallets ready." So, it looks like these newer Apple Watch models will be available as refurbished devices shortly.
Adding new products to the refurbished store ahead of making them available is pretty standard for Apple. So we're confident that we'll be seeing these Apple Watch models on there to buy soon. As for when they'll be available, that's not quite confirmed yet. Keep an eye out over the coming weeks, as we'd expect them sooner rather than later.
Sans blood oxygen sensor
Thanks to a legal scuffle with Masimo over the blood-oxygen sensor, Apple had to stop selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 last year. Apple can now sell these models again, but only with the blood-oxygen sensors disabled via software. Since the FTC restriction is still in place, the refurbished models will most likely also ship with the blood oxygen model deactivated.
There is a chance that Apple and Masimo reach an agreement over the sensors before the refurbished Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models go on sale, but based on the way things are going so far, this looks unlikely. So prepare for an Apple Watch without the flashy sensor. And if blood oxygen readings are important to you, consider getting yourself a model from abroad, where the FTC ruling doesn't apply.
