A patent fight over the pulse oximeter inside the Apple Watch hurt sales of the wearable. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac




Apple Watch shipments dropped almost 20% year over year in the first quarter of 2024. Market analysts blame some of the decline on Apple being temporarily forced to halt sales of its most recent wearables in a patent dispute over blood oxygen monitoring in units sold in the United States.
AirPods sales also declined in Q1 2024 but for a different reason.
Blame a patent lawsuit for Apple Watch shipments decline
Apple is involved in a long-running patent dispute with Masimo Corp. and its sibling company, Cercacor Laboratories. The two medical-device makers have convinced court after court that the way the pulse oximeter inside the Apple Watch works infringes on their tech.
Apple had to stop selling Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the United States late last year. There were several subsequent starts and stops, but when sales resumed for good on January 18, Apple had been forced to disable blood oxygen monitoring software in the these units.
And in the first quarter of this year, Apple Watch shipments declined 19.1% when compared to the same period of 2023, according to analysts at IDC. They credited some of the drop to “a temporary ban on certain watch models.”
The fact that the wearables continue to be sold in the U.S. without oxygen monitoring is likely affecting sales, too. The problem will become critical this autumn when Apple Watch Series X gets ready to launch.
AirPods and Beats shipments also drop
IDC also reported on Tuesday that shipments of AirPods and Beats declined 18.8% during the quarter. The analysts creditors the decline in these hearables in “the lack of newer AirPods.”
The last new model in this popular product line was AirPods Pro 2 in late 2022. The third-generation standard AirPods launched in late 2021.
A change is coming, though: a fourth-generation of these truly wireless earbuds is allegedly on Apple’s 2024 agenda. AirPods Pro 3 aren’t expected until next year, however.
Apple Watch and AirPods Q1 2024 shipments together
Altogether, shipments of Apple Watch and AirPods totaled 20.6 million units in the first three months of the year, according to IDC. That’s an 18.9% year-over-year decline.
Still, it was enough to keep Apple at the top of the heap in the market for all types of wearables. It has 18.2% of the global market, close to double its next nearest competitor.