Apple has announced that it will halt sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States later this week, although they will both still be available from third-party resellers like Amazon and Best Buy for a little longer.
The confirmation comes via a press release sent to 9to5Mac in which Apple said that it will stop selling the wearables on apple.com starting December 21.
Apple retail locations will stop selling the same products after December 24. International sales are not affected.
The reason for the decision relates to a Presidential Review Period that is already 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.” That blood oxygen feature has been part of an ongoing dispute with a medical device company called Masimo — the firm says that Apple’s blood oxygen sensor falls foul of its patents.
The ITC confirmed that it agreed with Masimo back in October, with President Biden’s administration then given a 60-day period in which the decision could be vetoed. That period ends on December 25, but Apple says that it’s “preemptively taking steps to comply should the ruling stand.” That suggests it might already know what the outcome will be.
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.
Apple says that it is already working on how to get its two best Apple Watches back into stores. And while they’ll remain on sale at third-party retailers, that won’t be the case for long — imports of the wearables into the United States will cease on December 25, meaning stocks will eventually run dry.
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