Personal Finance News
Apple Celebrates 10 Years of Apple Pay, Announces New Features
In honor of Apple Pay’s 10th anniversary, Apple has teased some upcoming additions to the popular service.
About Apple Pay’s incoming features:
It’s now been 10 years since Apple first introduced its mobile wallet solution, Apple Pay. Since then, the offering has grown to 78 markets, 11,000 bank and network partners, and “hundreds of millions of consumers.” Moreover, the platform is well-reviewed, with a recent Morning Consult poll finding that 85% of Apple Pay users are “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with the service and 98% of respondents saying they’d recommend it to others. To mark this 10th anniversary milestone, Apple also revealed some recent and upcoming additions to Apple Pay.
First, after previously adding support for Affirm to Apple Pay, Klarna’s “buy now, pay later” service has now come to the platform. Eligible customers in both the United States and United Kingdom can now access Klarna’s payment options when checking out online or in-app with Apple Pay. This feature is supported on both iPhone and iPad. Notably, these additions come on the heels of Apple discontinuing its own BNPL feature called Apple Pay Later. That offering was shut down in June only 15 months after launching.
Looking ahead, Apple also stated that users will soon be able to access installment payment options when using eligible credit or debit cards. Specifically, in the United States, Citi, Synchrony, and issuers with Fiserv will be among the first to add this capability.
Elsewhere, with the recent roll-out of iOS 18 came the ability for customers to redeem their credit card rewards via Apple Pay. In the United States, only Discover cards supported this feature at launch. However, Apple has announced that Synchrony will soon add this functionality. Additionally, participating Apple Pay issuers with Fiserv and FIS will also be eligible for this option.
Apple Pay is also introducing a way for users to access the service on third-party browsers and devices. This will be done by scanning a code using an iPhone or iPad and completing payment on that device.
Lastly, starting next year, Apple Pay users in the United States will be able to view their PayPal balance when using their PayPal debit card in Apple Wallet. The recently revamped PayPal debit card — which allows customers to earn 5% back on purchases in one of five categories — already makes it easy for users to add their card to Apple Pay.
Timelines for when customers can expect to see these new features were not announced.
My thoughts:
I personally love using Apple Pay — especially overseas, where I find it to be far and away the easiest way to pay. Yet, it’s hard to believe that it’s already been around for 10 years! It’s also crazy to see how much the service has grown in that time as it’s basically ubiquitous now.
As for these teased additions, none of them are too exciting to me at this time. But, as I fan, I’m always glad to see that Apple is continuing to expand the service.
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