Apple’s 2024 smartwatch may not have sleep apnea detection due to a lost patent dispute with medtech company Masimo.
Insider and Bloomberg correspondent Mark Gurman reported this in his new Power On newsletter. Last week, a federal appeals court rejected Apple’s request to stay the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) ban on the sale of its Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches. The ban came after Apple lost a patent dispute with Masimo over measurement technology. blood oxygen level. Thus, Apple is forced to disable pulse oximeter on all new smartwatches.
Gurman believes that disabling the option will not alienate all Apple fans from the 2023 watch. However, according to him, the loss of Masimo still creates big problems for the corporation.
“First of all, this is a big shame… Secondly, and much more importantly, losing the patent dispute raises questions for Apple to implement other features in future smart watches,” Gurman wrote.
In particular, he said, the company may stop introducing sleep apnea detection in watches by 2024. The fact is that the definition of apnea involves measuring the level of oxygen in the blood. That is, for this function, the watch needs to use a pulse oximeter, which Apple is prohibited from using in the United States.
