Apple is joining the BNPL craze.
The tech giant announced Monday a new Apple Pay feature that would let users make purchases with its digital wallet and pay for them in four installments over six weeks. Apple Pay users won’t have to pay any fees.
The company said Apple Pay Later, which was introduced at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, will work “using standard Apple Pay implementation” and will also allow users to monitor and manage upcoming payments through the digital wallet.
The announcement underlines the growth of "buy now, pay later" services, which have emerged as a major consumer credit financing trend.
Despite worries that it’s a passing fad that could be derailed by rising interest rates, major BNPL companies have moved aggressively to strengthen their market positions.
Last week, Affirm announced a partnership with payments technology giant Stripe. Klarna also signed a similar deal with Stripe late last year. In January, Square, Block’s payments division, finalized its purchase of the Australian BNPL provider Afterpay.