When you're looking to track your health and fitness date, there's no better way than with a smartwatch. These wrist-mounted devices have surged in popularity, taking the market by storm.
Chief among them is the Apple Watch. These devices pair perfectly with the iPhone, allowing users to track their health and wellbeing, as well as getting notifications and more on the move.
But if you're looking to pick up an Apple Watch Series 9 or an Apple Watch Ultra 2, you might need to be fast. That's because rumours are fast emerging of a potential removal of those products from the range in the USA.
That's as part of an ongoing lawsuit with Masimo, a medical technology company. We wrote about this back in January, and the case has continued all year. In October, the decision was upheld, leaving a 60-day Presidential Review as the only barrier.
That period ends on the 25th of December, and there has yet to be any intervention on that front. That has prompted Apple to release a statement to 9to5Mac, suggesting that these two models could be removed from sale this week.
The full statement reads as follows:
A Presidential Review Period is in progress regarding an order from the U.S. International Trade Commission on a technical intellectual property dispute pertaining to Apple Watch devices containing the Blood Oxygen feature. While the review period will not end until December 25, Apple is preemptively taking steps to comply should the ruling stand. This includes pausing sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple.com starting December 21, and from Apple retail locations after December 24.
Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features. Apple strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.
Should the order stand, Apple will continue to take all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.
That's a massive announcement. If the ruling were to stand, it could have an impact not just on Apple, but on the wider retail market. That's before we even get into the consumer impact, with many potentially looking to gift these devices to friends and loved ones.
We'll be keeping a close eye on this one as the story develops.
