Apple to disable blood-oxygen feature as part of patent dispute

Apple has announced that it will disable the blood-oxygen monitoring feature on its popular smartwatches, Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, in the U.S. This decision complies with a court-ordered revival of a sales ban resulting from a patent dispute with medical technology company Masimo. The U.S. Court of Appeals recently refused to extend an order allowing the watches to remain in stores during the legal battle over technology rights. The U.S. International Trade Commission had previously ruled that the blood-oxygen sensor in these Apple Watch models infringed on Masimo’s patents. Apple aims to overturn this decision in appeals court, but in the meantime, it will disable the feature on watches sold in the U.S. Users who have already purchased the affected models can still use the sensor, while the feature will remain available on watches sold outside the U.S. Apple’s lower-cost watch, the SE, is not impacted as it never included the blood oxygen feature.

Source – CGTN