Rivaling the “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) offerings popularized by services from PayPal, Afterpay, and Affirm, Apple is prepping a new “Apple Pay Later” service that will let consumers pay for any Apple Pay purchase in installments over time.
Mark Gurman and Sridhar Natarajan for Bloomberg News:
The upcoming service, known internally as Apple Pay Later, will use Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as the lender for the loans needed for the installment offerings, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Goldman Sachs has been Apple’s partner for the Apple Card credit card since 2019, but the new offering isn’t tied to the Apple Card and doesn’t require the use of one, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing unannounced products.
The service is currently planned to work as follows: When a user makes a purchase via Apple Pay on their Apple device, they will have the option to pay for it either across four interest-free payments made every two weeks, or across several months with interest, one of the people said. The plan with four payments is called “Apple Pay in 4” internally, while the longer-term payment plans are dubbed “Apple Pay Monthly Installments.”
When making purchases through an Apple Pay Later plan, users will be able to choose any credit card to make their payments over time. The service is planned to be available for purchases made at either retail or online stores. Apple already offers monthly installments via the Apple Card for purchases of its own products, but this service would expand that technology to any Apple Pay transaction.
MacDailyNews Take: “Apple Pay Later” would be a significant addition to the roster of features offered in the Apple Pay service and rather bad news for BNPL entrants not named Apple. 🙂
The market likes the idea, currently sending Apple shares up $2.70 (+1.85%) to $148.34 in premarket trading.