If you live in the U.S. and plan to give one of your loved-ones an Apple Watch for Christmas, you better hurry. Following a ruling of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) as part of a long-running patent dispute, Apple is forced to halt sales of its latest flagship smartwatches, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Series 9, in the United States this week. Confirming a ruling that originally dates back to January, the ITC found that Apple infringed patents of medical tech company Masimo in its technology measuring blood oxygen levels. While the feature was introduced with the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020, the ban will only affect the Series 9 and Ultra 2, because these are the only two models equipped with the feature that Apple currently sells.
According to an official statement cited by 9to5Mac, who first broke the story on Monday, Apple will be pausing sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple.com today at 3PM ET and from Apple retail locations after December 24, which is when the 60-day Presidential Review Period ends. Until then, President Biden can theoretically veto the ban, but that is considered very unlikely. On Wednesday, the ITC denied Apple’s motion to suspend the ban pending appeal, so it looks very likely that it will come into effect. Since the ban only prohibits Apple to sell more infringing watches, the affected models will still be available at third-party retailers as long as supply lasts and the December 24 deadline should help Apple realize a large portion of its holiday sales before the ban takes effect.
As our chart based on Statista Consumer Insights shows, the Apple Watch is by far the most popular smartwatch/fitness tracker in the United States. 59 percent of more than 3,000 smartwatch/fitness tracker users surveyed between October 2022 and September 2023 claim to use an Apple Watch, which is miles ahead of Fitbit, which 27 percent of respondents claimed to be using. Other popular brands such as Samsung, Google and Garmin are even further behind, illustrating how unmatched the Apple Watch is in terms of popularity.
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said it “strongly disagreed” with the order and is “pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.” It is widely expected that Apple will officially appeal the band on December 26, the day after the Presidential Review Period expires.
