apple pay later
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Apple unveils 'Apple Pay Later'

The service will not charge users fees, Apple says.

Apple logo

Apple is adding an Apple Pay Later feature to its digital wallet.

Image: Apple

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.

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

apple payfintechbnplapplebuy now pay laterapple pay later
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