One of the most popular tech devices this holiday season will inevitably be Apple's beloved watch.
The fitness and tracking device is one of Apple's biggest blockbusters; it sold over 50 million units in 2022 alone.
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And with two new watches brought into the lineup this year, Apple probably has a major winner again for 2023.
The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 were both released in September and began selling quickly. Amazon (AMZN) -) saw wait times for a new Series 9 of multiple weeks since demand had spiked so rapidly over its Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.
And it makes sense why. The watch is the perfect gift for any fitness fanatic in your life. At a price point of just under $400, it offers countless fitness and tracking metrics to experiment with. Users can track heart rate, step count, calories burned in a workout, sleep quality, VO2 max levels, and cardio zones.
But on Dec. 18, Apple made a major announcement that will affect the future sales of its newest watches.
Apple makes a major watch announcement
Beginning on Dec. 21, Apple will no longer sell its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches on its official website or in stores in the U.S after December 24.
This comes after the The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple violated a patent that measures pulse oximetry originally filed by a fitness and medical device company called Masimo.
"Masimo has accused Apple of hiring away its employees, stealing its pulse oximetry technology and incorporating it into the popular Apple Watch," Reuters reported.
"A jury trial on Masimo's allegations in California federal court ended with a mistrial in May. Apple has separately sued Masimo for patent infringement in a federal court in Delaware and has called Masimo's legal actions a 'maneuver to clear a path' for its own competing smartwatch."
Pulse oximetry is a metric that helps to measure blood oxygen levels, something fitness and wellness enthusiasts use to measure cardio fitness and overall health.
The ban will affect sales of all new watches that currently utilize the blood oxygen measurement.
"Apple has plenty of inventory of Watch 8 and SE so they will have products available during that time," ITC program mobile device tracking VP Ryan Reith said. "The bigger implication is around whether or not Apple can use the blood oxygen sensor technology that is in question on future devices, or if they'll have to reach a settlement or come up with a new solution."
For its part, Apple said it believes the charge has no ground and should be dropped.
It said in a statement:
A Presidential Review Period is 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. While the review period will not end until December 25, Apple is preemptively taking steps to comply should the ruling stand. This includes pausing sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple.com starting December 21, and from Apple retail locations after December 24. The decision does not impact sales of the devices in other countries at this time.
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.
Should the order stand, Apple will continue to take all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.
