Masimo CEO claims Apple Watch users are better off without Apple’s blood oxygen tool

The Blood Oxygen sensor on the back crystal of Apple Watch
Masimo CEO Joe Kiani, waging a legal fight with Apple over a blood oxygen (pulse oximetry) feature, said that consumers are better off without Apple’s version of the technology.
Mark Gurman and Edward Ludlow for Bloomberg News:
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The remarks followed Apple’s decision to cease sales of smartwatches Thursday that had the tool — a gauge of blood oxygen saturation known as a pulse oximeter — which had been a heavily marketed health feature on the devices. The move stemmed from a ruling by the US International Trade Commission that found the technology violated Masimo patents.

See also: Apple wins as patent tribunal decision upheld, Masimo loses appeal – January 12, 2024

Customers should buy pulse oximeters from Masimo or others instead, Kiani said in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV. “Apple is masquerading what they are offering to consumers as a reliable, medical pulse oximeter, even though it is not,” he said. “I really feel wholeheartedly that consumers are better off without it.”
Apple didn’t have an immediate comment on Kiani’s remarks. After a US federal appeals court denied Apple a reprieve, the company began selling tweaked versions of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches Thursday without the blood oxygen feature. Apple said it strongly disagrees with the court’s decision and is appealing the ITC ban…
Masimo’s CEO said he hasn’t spoken to Apple personally about a settlement, and that nobody from Apple has reached out about coming to an agreement.

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MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote Tuesday, “Very few consumers buy an Apple Watch for blood-oxygen sensing. It’s a nice-to-have feature that is not crucial to Apple Watch sales in any meaningful way.”
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