You can’t argue with paying later.
When the Apple Pay Later feature was announced at WWDC 2022, the “buy now, pay later” feature has not yet launched to the public. This could soon change, as a report has suggested that Apple has “expanded an internal test” of the feature to its thousands of retail employees, “a sign the feature is finally nearing a public release.”
The feature, which Apple CEO Tim Cook touched on during the company’s earnings release last week, is apparently being significantly expanded.
According to Bloomberg, Apple contacted retail employees this week to “offer them a test version of the service” ahead of its public launch. The company currently has about 270 stores across the United States and more than 80,000 employees to use as a test bed for the feature.
The Apple Pay Later feature functions as a financial service that would allow customers within the United States to split purchases into four equal payments across six weeks, with no fees or interest. The feature will be available anywhere Apple Pay is accepted online or in-app.
Apple describes the feature as follows:
“Apple Pay Later provides users in the US with a seamless and secure way to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees of any kind.”
Users can also use and track the Apple Pay Later feature within their Apple Wallet app.
Apple Pay Later is available everywhere Apple Pay is accepted online or in-app, using the Mastercard network.
A monthly version of the Apple Pay Later program also seems to be in the works.
As the name implies, this would allow users to split larger purchases into equal payments over a longer amount of time. These longer-term payment plans, however, would carry interest fees, unlike the short-term Apple Pay Later installments.
Apple Pay Monthly Installments hasn’t yet been announced by Apple, and could be implemented further down the line, following the company’s widespread launch of Apple Pay Later within the United States.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.