US
tech giant Apple is making a huge move into the buy now, pay later space, with
the announcement of Apple Pay Later last night at its annual developer
conference.
The headline features are
that Apple Pay Later will let shoppers split purchases into four payments over
six weeks, with no fees or interest charges, and will work anywhere in the US
that Apple Pay is accepted.
As well as making
payments, Apple is upgrading its Apple Wallet to track, view and repay Apple
Pay Later purchases.
The launch will likely be
a further blow to Klarna and Affirm,
which have both had a tough few months with tumbling share prices and layoffs respectively.
Apple has long been reported to be working with Goldman Sachs on
a ‘pay later’ service, and the tech giant’s decision to acquire UK fintech Credit Kudos in March was also rumoured to be connected to its buy
now, pay later plans.
Apple Pay Later is coming
as part of Apple’s iOS 16 iPhone software update which, if following Apple’s
typical release cycle, will arrive mid-September.
It’s not the only update
coming to Apple Pay, as earlier this year unveiled ‘Tap to Pay’ letting
merchants use their iPhones to accept payments.
However, far from being a
challenge to fintechs like Square and Zettle, Apple is opening the feature up
for developers to use, again starting with iOS 16 later this year.
Source: www.altfi.com
