Apple may have found a way to circumvent the ongoing Apple Watch sales ban and continue to sell the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States. And it has reportedly come down to removing the blood oxygen monitoring feature.

The sales ban came after the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Apple infringed on a patent owned by Masimo for blood oxygen sensing technology. The infringing technology had been used since the Apple Watch Series 6, but only the latest Apple smartwatch was temporarily suspended.

Apple was rumored to disable the infringing technology through a software update in order to circumvent the ban and continue selling its latest wearable products in the US. The company reportedly approved the move after U.S. Customs and Border Protection determined that Apple's redesign was outside the scope of the import ban.

The workaround is software-based, meaning that the physical configuration of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will not be changed. It is unclear whether this means that Apple Watches sold outside the U.S. will continue to offer blood oxygen monitoring, or whether Apple will implement this change on a global scale.

Of course, this change will only take place if Apple is unable to win a longer stay of execution from the U.S. Court of Appeals. The company has filed for a stay to cover the entire appeal period, which Apple expects to last more than a year. If it is successful, Apple can continue to sell unmodified Apple Watches unhindered, as it has done since late last year.

If it fails, the modified watches will be sold; according to Bloomberg, modified Series 9 and Ultra 2 Apple Watches have already begun shipping to Apple Stores in the U.S., but will not be sold until Apple officially gives the go-ahead The watch is being shipped under strict instructions that it will not be sold until Apple gives the official go-ahead.

It is not clear what this means for existing Apple Watch owners, or whether this change means that the blood oxygen monitoring feature will be left out or turned off in a future software update. Unfortunately, the legal process takes time, so we will have to sit tight and wait to see how this case plays out in court.