June 19, 2024, 12:36 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
In the U.S., Apple offers some financial services that are exclusive to the country–such as the Apple Card. One of these services is now being discontinued before it even made it to Germany.
Since October 2023, Apple users in the U.S. have been able to finance purchases directly through Apple Pay. The feature, called Pay Later, allows payments in four installments over six weeks, TECHBOOK reported. However, a replacement is already in the works–and it is expected to come to Germany as well.
Pay Later launched cautiously in the U.S.
Apple originally announced Pay Later alongside iOS 16 (archived page) in September 2022. The company had already noted in the fine print that the launch could be delayed. Due to technical difficulties, randomly selected users received the first pre-launch invitations for the service only in March 2023. The nationwide U.S. launch followed in October 2023.
On June 17, the service was discontinued without prior notice, as noted on the relevant support page: “Apple Pay Later no longer offers new loans. Existing Apple Pay Later loans and purchases are not affected.” Users can still manage ongoing installment loans through the Wallet app on the iPhone or the Pay Later option in the iPad settings.
Apparently a global installment loan service is planned
According to the news portal “9to5Mac,” Apple has stated that a replacement for Pay Later is already in development. This will allow users to apply for installment loans at checkout via Apple Pay “through credit and debit cards as well as lenders”–and not just in the U.S., but “globally.” The feature is to be developed “in collaboration with banks and lenders that support Apple Pay.” TECHBOOK has requested a statement from Apple but has not yet received a response.
So far, there is no centralized installment loan offering for smartphone users in Germany. Individual retailers offer zero-percent financing through various credit institutions–such as Amazon through Barclays. However, these are only valid for certain offers. The advantage of Apple Pay Later was that virtually all purchases with a value between 75 and 1,000 U.S. dollars qualified for financing–as long as they were paid for via Apple Pay.