Apple is releasing an exciting new product, but it’s not an iPhone

Apple’s new ‘Apple Pay Later’ product will take on huge finance giants like Paypal and Afterpay

Apple will team up with Goldman Sachs to create the new Apple Pay Later service, which will function alongside Apple Pay. The technology will be integrated with the millions of devices people already use to tap and pay.

When a customer uses Apple Pay to make a purchase, they will have the option to pay for it across four interest-free payments made every two weeks. There is also an option to make the payments across several months, but with interest. The exact rate of interest for these monthly payments isn’t yet known.

The company already offers monthly payment instalments via the Apple Card for purchases of its own product. However, this service will expand on this feature by working with any credit card on Apple Pay. Apple also plans to make the feature available for both in-store retail purchases and online shopping.

The future of ‘tap and pay’ tech

The feature comes as Apple continues to push its ‘tap and pay’ technology. This allows iPhone users to use their phones rather than traditional credit cards.

Apple already receives a percentage of the transactions made with Apple Pay. Goldman Sachs has been Apple’s partner for the Apple Card credit card since 2019. However, the new service wont need the use of an Apple Card.

The pay later service will put the company in direct rivalry with other ‘buy now, pay later’. At this news, Affirm fell as much as 13 percent, while PayPal declined about 1.4 percent.

Payment scheme with less fees

Before users can access the feature, the need to submit an application including a copy of their ID via the iPhone’s Wallet app. Here, users can manage their payments. Apple will also offer customers with the ability to exit the payment plan and pay the outstanding fee.

Some of the plans will waiver any late and processing fees, only charging fees for the longer-term plans. Another selling point is that the service will not run a credit check on the user.

Separately, Apple is also testing a feature to allow user to create temporary digital Apple Pay Later credit cards for individual purchases.