As foretold, customers can not currently order these two Watch models directly from apple.com:
The White House has until Christmas Day to veto the import ban, and if it doesn’t, Apple will either need to settle with patent-holder Masimo or find a work around, as noted in the company’s statement to 9to5Mac earlier this week:
Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features. Apple strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.
Here’s what John Gruber wrote when that statement was released:
My guess, and it’s just a wild guess, is that they’re playing chicken with the Biden administration, hoping President Biden will issue a veto on this ITC import ban. President Obama issued a similar veto back in 2013 that would have been banned the import of the iPhone 4 and some iPad models. The Biden administration, I’m guessing, was hoping that Apple would just write a check to Masimo to settle this dispute, and doesn’t want to be seen putting its thumb on the scale favoring a “big tech” company, all of which are considered villainous to some degree on the left.
I honestly didn’t expect things to get to this point. Not being able to have older Apple Watches replaced is a real bummer, too.