With Apple Pay Later, Apple may take another stab at the PayPal model

Apple will continue to expand beyond traditional technology projects with a new feature the company is internally calling “Apple Pay Later,” according to a new report from Bloomberg.

With Apple Pay Later, users making either retail or online purchases with Apple Pay will have the option of paying over time rather than entirely up front. Customers will not need an Apple Card (the company’s recently launched credit card service) to take advantage of Apple Pay Later, according to the report.

Apple will offer two payment options. “Apple Pay Monthly Installments” will allow users to pay off a loan, with interest, in monthly installments. “Apple Pay in 4” will let users pay for purchases with four interest-free payments due every two weeks.

Customers can optionally end their payment plans by paying the amount off in full, the report says.

Bloomberg’s sources did not share the interest rate Apple plans to charge, nor did they say whether every user who applies will be approved. The sources said that users can apply via the Wallet app on their iPhones by sharing a copy of their identification. They also said a credit check will not be involved in this process.

This new product might seem like an odd fit for Apple, but it’s only the latest in a number of the company’s forays into the world of consumer financial products. The most notable such project is Apple Card, a digitally managed, contactless credit card.

Further, several competing tech companies already own and operate products similar to Apple Pay Later.

Over the past several years, Apple sought to offset slowing iPhone sales by introducing new services that increase the lifetime value of its customers. That said, iPhone sales picked up significantly with the launch of the iPhone 12 late last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly pointed to the company’s services (Apple Card, iCloud, Apple Music) and wearables (Apple Watch, AirPods) businesses as the vanguards for growth at the company.