Tim Cook says Apple Pay Later will still launch – just not yet
>
Apple has confirmed it still plans to launch its own Buy Now Pay Later scheme later this year, despite growing concerns that continued delays could have meant the project’s cancellation.
Apple Pay Later was first announced in June 2022, but has since suffered multiple delays and setbacks. It was initially expected to launch along with iOS 16 in September 2022, but now it looks like it will launch sometime in 2023.
The company’s official iOS website currently states that Apple Pay Later is “coming in a future update” – but now the company’s CEO seems to have shed some light on when this might be.
Coming soon Apple Pay Later
Speak against CNBC (opens in new tab) around the company’s Q1 2023 financial results, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed there are still plans to launch the service – though he couldn’t put a concrete date on the board.
“It’s launching soon,” Cook noted, with CNBC saying he’d also revealed that Apple employees were beta testing the service.
Apple Pay Later is built into Apple Wallet and available both online and in apps and will be available as a payment option for high-end products in addition to full payment when a user checks out with Apple Pay or Wallet.
The service is built on Mastercard’s network and gives users a clear picture of exactly what payment amounts are expected, and on what date. Users have the option to pay early to release a balance if they wish, with Apple saying the tool is “designed with users’ financial health in mind”.
Apple has been trying to get into the financial services business for a while now as it wants to offer its customers a full range of products in addition to its popular hardware, such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac lines.
Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone service launched in February 2022 as a major show of support for small businesses everywhere, enabling thousands of them to accept payments through iPhone.
Initially only available in the US, Tap to Pay on iPhone uses NFC to securely complete and process transactions, and will work on the iPhone XS and newer models.
The company recently announced that Tap to Pay is now an option in its iOS apps for PayPal and Venmo, meaning merchants already using those services have more ways to accept cashless payments.