Apple Discontinues Apple Pay Later Service

Apple is discontinuing its Apple Pay Later service, a little over a year since its launch. The service allowed customers to split purchases between $50 and $1,000 into four payments spread over six weeks without any interest or fees.

Introduced in March 2023, Apple Pay Later was part of Apple’s strategy to leverage finance to enhance consumer engagement. The service competed with other buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies such as Affirm and Klarna.

As of Monday, Apple’s website indicates that the company is “no longer offering new loans” for Apple Pay Later. However, existing loans will remain unaffected. Apple also mentioned plans to introduce alternative BNPL options through other companies when customers check out using Apple Pay, its payment system.

Last week, Apple announced that Affirm would be one of those alternative BNPL options, set to be available in the fall. Affirm’s share price closed at $30.81 on Monday, nearly doubling over the past year, although it remains significantly lower than its peak of over $160 in late 2021.