Apple’s recent iPhone 16 event focused on the company’s innovative new health features, but one key feature was noticeably absent from the lineup: blood oxygen monitoring. This feature, which was initially introduced with the Series 6 device, will not be available on Series 10 models sold in the United States. However, the rest of the world will be able to access this technology on the new watch.
The loss of blood oxygen monitoring is particularly noteworthy, as health features have been a cornerstone of Apple’s wearable technology. The feature’s exclusion is the result of a long-standing patent dispute between Apple and medical device company Masimo. The dispute led Apple to disable the feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 late last year, and it appears that the issue has not been resolved.
Apple has not commented on whether the feature’s removal is due to a hardware change or a software fix. However, if it is a hardware change, it’s possible that the company had to design separate models for different markets. The lack of clarity on this issue has left many questions unanswered, including what the underlying reason is for the feature’s absence from Series 10 models sold in the US.
Despite the loss of blood oxygen monitoring, Apple did announce a range of new health features that will be available globally, including sleep apnea detection. It’s possible that the company will revisit blood oxygen monitoring in the future, once the dispute with Masimo is resolved. For now, users in the US will have to rely on other health features available on the Apple Watch Series 10, including the new sleep apnea detection capability.
