Apple may no longer be able to sell the Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 with blood oxygen monitoring, but that does not mean there are no other options. In fact, Masimo, the company that sued Apple for patent infringement, is developing its own blood oxygen monitoring smartwatch.

Masimo is typically a medical technology company, but it appears that it may shift its focus to consumer gadgets. This is not the first time the company has produced wearables, but the Masimo W1, released last year, may have been a bit too health oriented. This time around, the company seems to be trying to attract a more general smartwatch audience.

In other words, the Masimo Freedom has a sleek design, notifications, and more. But of course, this is still a health-focused device.

The Verge took a peek at a prototype version of the Masimo Freedom at CES 2024 and noted that the watch is very different from Apple's. On the right side of the round display is a touch bar for navigation and small buttons for selecting objects. Apple's trademark digital crown and rotating bezel are missing.

Nevertheless, Eugene Goldberg, president of consumer health at Masimo, told the site that the point of the Freedom smartwatch is to highlight the accuracy of the company's health monitoring technology. Goldberg said the company's blood oxygen measurement technology is superior to that of an unnamed competitor because it can take into account a variety of factors, including exercise, low perfusion, skin pigmentation, and poor blood flow.

The Freedom Watch can also detect hydration index, respiratory rate, pulse rate variability, pulse rate, step count, and even falls. And it has the usual activity and sleep tracking features found on other smartwatches.

The Masimo Freedom may be a good choice for the elderly because it can continuously monitor your vitals every second instead of every few minutes. That way, you and your health care professional will know exactly when things change or get worse, rather than just a rough estimate.

Of course, this is just a prototype, and the actual Masimo Freedom won't be available until later this year; as The Verge noted, the actual smartwatch features seem pretty basic, so there is still a lot of work to be done.

At a whopping $999 for the Masimo Freedom, this is definitely a niche product. However, if you value the ability to track your vitals with even greater accuracy than a proper smartwatch, it may be a price you are willing to pay. The Masimo Freedom can be reserved on Masimo's website for a $100 deposit.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the future. Not only is Masimo trying to enter the smartwatch market, but what will happen to its legal battle with Apple? Masimo succeeded in getting US Customs to ban the importation of the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 models. It urged Apple to remove this feature. However, Apple is appealing this decision, and the fight is not over yet.