Dive Brief:
- Tech giant Apple has made buy now, pay later service provider Affirm’s payment options available on its latest phone and mobile devices, the two companies said in a press release Tuesday.
- That means consumers can use Apple’s digital wallet on their their iOS 18 iPhone or iPadOS 18 to tap Affirm’s options to finance their purchase of goods and services in biweekly or monthly payments, in some cases with no interest payments. The BNPL offering is available to Apple users checking out online or in-app for their purchases.
- “This gives users access to Affirm's pay over time options right at the point of purchase, and leverages the easy, secure and private experience that our users already enjoy with Apple Pay,” Apple Vice President Jennifer Bailey said in the release.
Dive Insight:
Cupertino, California-based Apple said in June that it would allow payment options offered by other companies to be available on its technology devices. Later that same month, Apple dropped its own BNPL service called Apple Pay Later.
Making San Francisco-based Affirm’s payment options visible to Apple’s clientele could give a boost to the BNPL provider’s payments volume and revenue, but it’s not clear how immediate any effect on Affirm’s profit may be.
Apple has also opened up its devices to other payment firms’ services, including those from PayPal, which is the parent to peer-to-peer payment business Venmo. Apple has begun allowing merchants to use its phones to accept Venmo payments from consumers.
Apple has been increasingly making other companies’ payment services available on its devices as it faces regulatory pressure in the U.S. and abroad to work with vendors.
The latest integration with Affirm combines Apple’s security, including biometric verification, along with Affirm’s BNPL payment features that provide various financing options, including those that may charge interest, but not late fees. Affirm reviews each consumer transaction individually to determine what type of financing to provide, the company says.
