Apple Pay Later coming soon as tech giant pushes into financial services
Sitthiphong

Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) "Buy Now, Pay Later" service was first announced last June, and was planned to be released in September as part of iOS 16, before technical challenges pushed the launch in 2023. Things are now moving ahead. The company contacted retail employees this week to "offer them a test version of the service" ahead of its public launch, according to Bloomberg, while a test for corporate employees has already been completed.
Under the new BNPL program, called Apple Pay Later, users will be able to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments - spread over six weeks - with zero interest and no fees. The service will run on a new financial platform that Apple (AAPL) designed for in-house initiatives, pushing the tech giant further into the fast-growing financial market. 
In the past, Apple (AAPL) has worked with Goldman to issue the Apple Card in the U.S., while partnering with Barclays in the U.K. to offer financing for purchases of its devices. It's also working with Goldman on a service called Apple Pay Monthly Installments, which will divide the cost of large transactions over several months with interest. "Pay Later" will compete against similar offerings from Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM), Klarna (KLAR) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), where it will earn interchange fees and valuable data from each transaction.
Last week, Apple's (AAPL) earnings and sales fell short of analysts projections for a profit of $1.95 per share and $121.65B in revenue. On an earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said artificial intelligence is also "a major focus" of the tech giant and is impacting all of its products and services.