• Apple has halted sales on its Watch Series 9 Stateside following a decision taken by the International Trade Commission (ITC) in October.
• This stems from a patent dispute involving the blood sensor monitor on the Series 9.
• Sales will be suspended from 21st December, Apple confirmed.

If you were hoping to pick up an Apple Watch Series 9 for the holidays, you may be out of luck as the Cupertino-based company has announced that sales of its latest wearable are set to be suspended in the United States.

Apple confirmed the news following reports from 9to5Mac earlier this week.

The decision has been taken preemptively by Apple, after the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled on a patent dispute involving a California-based medical technology firm over the blood sensor monitor found on the Series 9.

As for how this impacts consumers in the United States who wished to purchase the device over the coming days, online sales will be suspended from 21st December, while in-store sales will be halted from 24th December.

Apple also noted that the investigation into the patent dispute is expected to be complete by 25th December, but it remains to be seen if the dispute will be put to rest.

Also unclear at this stage is what will happen in other parts of the world where the Watch Series 9 is sold should Apple be found to have indeed infringed on the patent for the blood sensor monitor. For now though, this will no doubt have an impact on any festive sales Apple was hoping to capitalise on for its latest smartwatch.

Apple’s official statement on the matter, shared with TechCrunch, follows below.

“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 Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from Apple.com starting December 21, and from Apple retail locations after December 24.

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.“