Cupertino, California-based Apple launched its own “pay-in-four” service, called Apple Pay Later, in March 2023. Roughly one-fifth of BNPL customers had tried the offering by July 2023, according to a J.D. Power report. The tech giant then began sharing data on the short-term loans with credit bureau Experian in February, making it the first BNPL provider to do so.
Apple rival Google has already partnered with San Francisco-based Affirm to offer BNPL financing to users of its Google Pay payments service. Apple’s willingness to allow Affirm and card issuers to compete with its own service runs counter to its long-running strategy. The tech giant usually creates a “walled garden,” where its hardware, software and services are tightly bundled together.
