‘Apple removes blood oxygen meter from Watch 9 and Ultra 2 due to patent infringement’

Apple is reportedly removing the entire function that allows blood oxygen to be measured on the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2. The company would like to do this to avoid an import ban in America.

Apple is redesigning the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 without the ‘pulse oximetry functionality’. That writes including 9to5Mac based on a legal document from the medical company Masimo. The latter accused Apple of patent infringement. According to the letter, the modified version has been approved by the US. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman the modified watches are already being shipped to American stores.

Masimo claims that Apple stole trade secrets and violated patents with its implementation of the blood oxygen meter. The company therefore filed a lawsuit and complained to the International Trade Commission. The trade commission said in October that Apple had indeed violated Masimo’s patents, after which the US imposed an import ban in December. Apple was then not allowed to sell the smartwatches through its own stores and was also not allowed to deliver them to third-party retailers.

However, a few days later, that ban was temporarily suspended by a US court at Apple’s request. The latter had now adjusted his Apple Watches and asked American customs to look at the two models again. It has now reportedly decided that Masimo’s patents are no longer infringed, and so Apple would be allowed to continue importing the smartwatches.