Apple's big reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 10 showcased a mightily impressive smartwatch, one we awarded 4 stars out of 5 in our review, while the Ultra 2 simply got a new (admittedly slick) black color.
One thing was common across both of Apple's latest watches, though: there is still no blood oxygen monitoring on models sold in the US.
The feature has been disabled for some time after an ongoing legal issue between Apple and Masimo, a company specializing in medical equipment, which accused the tech giant of infringing on its patent.
Now, however, a new report suggests blood oxygen monitoring functionality could be making a comeback, largely thanks to changes at the top of Masimo.
Blood oxygen could be back on Apple Watch soon
That comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who reports in his Power On newsletter that Joe Kiani, Masimo's longtime CEO, has resigned and " that could open the door for lawyers from Apple and Masimo to work out a deal to bring blood-oxygen sensing back to new Apple Watches."
According to Gurman, Kiani "had been a vocal critic of Apple for years," leading to some optimism that a deal could be done.
As to what that looks like, Gurman says "I don’t believe Apple will want to reach a licensing agreement, but I could imagine a deal—financial or not—that lets the two sides drop all litigation.”
While a change of leadership is no guarantee we'll see blood oxygen return to the best Apple watches, it's potentially an encouraging first step. Watch this space for more information!
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