US bans Apple Watches from measuring blood oxygen: Why?

Apple will remove the blood oxygen monitoring function from its latest smart watches. The reason for this is the ban imposed by the US government.

It all starts with one patent dispute Between the iPhone maker and pharmaceutical technology company Masimo, which involves United States Customs and Border Protection. In October, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple’s next-generation smartwatches (belonging to the Series 9 and Ultra 2 families) infringe Masimo patents related to blood oxygen measurement, known as pulse oximetry .

This caused Apple to suspend sales of smartwatches just before Christmas, although the interim suspension allowed the company to return to marketing these products late last month.

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This Monday, January 15, Massimo explained that the decision of the United States Customs and Border Protection does not mean that the import of Apple smartwatches into that country will stop, but only allows the manufacturer to maintain its watches. The pulse oximetry function must be eliminated. on the market.

The iPhone maker developed an alternative software solution to resolve the dispute and submitted the adjustment to the customs agency in charge of enforcing the import ban last week. Apple explained that the redesigned watches “definitely” do not include related technology.

Within the technology sector, the withdrawal of pulse oximetry technology from the Apple Watch was described as a “drastic” decision.

However, all is not lost for Apple. Company engineers are working on a software update that will change the blood oxygen app and its algorithms in a way that avoids the patent issue. To date, removing this feature is probably the fastest way to avoid sanctions from US Customs and Border Protection, which could also include banning the import of these gadgets.

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“Apple may have paid a high price to circumvent a US import ban,” said Tamlin Basson, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The function of measuring blood oxygen was highly promoted, so removing it may affect customer demand.

Apple’s operations team has already started shipping the modified Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches to retail locations in the US. Stores were told not to open or sell modified devices until they received approval from Apple’s corporate offices. Manzana. It is possible that those models are newer versions without blood oxygen function.

Separately, a federal appeals court is expected to hear a motion by Apple this week to lift the ban. It should be noted that this measure was canceled on an emergency basis while Apple awaited a hearing.

Last week, the ITC urged the appeals court to reject “weak and unconvincing” arguments supporting the trade agency’s effort to block enforcement of the ban.

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