Apple will stop selling the newest versions of the Apple Watch in the US this week unless President Biden intervenes

• Apple announced it would stop selling two models of the Apple Watch later this week.
• This follows a patent dispute judgment by the ITC over the watch's blood oxygen monitor.
• Apple says it will no longer be able to sell the Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2.

If one of your loved ones has an Apple Watch on their Christmas wishlist this year, you better act fast. Apple recently announced it is scheduled to remove the newest versions of its popular Apple Watch following a patent dispute ruling against the company.

The impacted models are the Apple Watch Series 9 lineup and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple confirmed to Business Insider. The two watch models are scheduled to be pulled from Apple's online store on December 21 after 3 p.m. ET and from Apple Store locations on December 24.

The halt in sales comes after the International Trade Commission ruled that these two models' use of blood oxygen tracking violated a patent from health technology company Masimo.

Both of the watches being pulled from shelves have a feature that tracks the wearer's blood oxygen levels. This feature lets users ensure that their red blood cells have a normal amount of oxygen in them.

But Masimo, a company that specializes in medical devices, argued that Apple violated a patent with its blood oxygen monitoring feature. Masimo filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2020 to the Central District of California and a case to the International Trade Commission in 2021.

ITC made its decision in October, siding with Masimo and finding that Apple had violated two of the company's patents. The ruling gave President Biden 60 days to review the patent violations and potentially veto it.

President Joe Biden still has until Christmas Day, December 25, to veto the ITC's ruling, which would allow Apple to continue selling these two watch models.

Those who own an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 will not be impacted by this decision and will still be able to hang on to their watches, Apple told BI. The Blood Oxygen feature will also continue to work, according to the company. Apple also plans to keep its budget model, the Apple Watch SE, on the market.

Experts told the Apple news blog 9to5Mac that it's unlikely that the Biden administration will overturn the ITC's ruling. In general, a president interfering with ITC decisions is rare, but it has happened before. In 2013, former President Barack Obama vetoed an ITC ban on some models of the iPhone and iPad.

Assuming the Series 9 and Ultra 2 do get pulled by Apple, it's unclear if or when these two models will return to Apple stores. However, the watches may still be for sale for a period at other third-party retailers that have remaining stock of the impacted models, such as Amazon and Best Buy.