At the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, Apple wasn’t able to sell either its Apple Watch Series 9 or its flagship Apple Watch Ultra 2 in any of its stores in the United States. A patent dispute with the company Masimo over the use of its blood oxygen sensor meant that Apple was temporarily blocked from selling either wearable, with the watches only back on sale after the company removed certain functionality to comply with the ruling.
There was a risk of history repeating itself, with another company — AliveCor — alleging that Apple had infringed patents related to heart-rate monitoring on certain models of Apple Watch. The multi-year legal battle has now seemingly come to an end with Apple in the clear, and its wearables no longer at risk.
