Tim Cook Says Apple Won’t Be Licensing Masimo Technology to End US Apple Watch Ban

Last month, Apple chose to disable the patented Blood Oxygen feature on its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models to avoid the ITC import ban in the US. In an interview with CNBC (via Apple Insider) following the release of Apple’s FY2024 Q1 earnings yesterday, earnings for Q4 2023 yesterday, CEO Tim Cook suggested that Apple won’t be licensing the blood sensing technology from Masimo to put an end to the patent infringement situation.

“We’re focused on appeal,” Cook said yesterday. “There’s lots of reasons to buy the watch even without the blood oxygen sensor.”

In December, Apple had to pause sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 for a couple of days, but the company was Apple to resume sales during the crucial holiday season after filing an emergency appeal. Apple later chose to disable the blood oxygen sensor on the two Watch models in the US to avoid the import ban and prepare to appeal the ITC’s ruling.

As of today, Apple Watch sales in the US are still in a weird situation: Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models sold by Apple have the Blood Oxygen feature disabled to avoid the ITC ban. However, other retailers are free to continue selling the two Watch models with a functioning blood sensor. The rest of the world is also unaffected by this patent dispute.

While Apple’s latest financial results showed that Apple very much remains the iPhone company, the Wearables, Home, and Accessories category still brought $11.95 billion in revenue in the last quarter (down 13% year-over-year). Today, Apple is also doing its first big product launch in years with the Apple Vision Pro, which is now available in the US for $3,499.