iPhone Subscription Service, Apple Pay Later Financial Services Delayed: Mark Gurman

Apple's upcoming financial services, which include a buy-now-pay-later service Apple Pay Later, Apple Card Savings account, and an unannounced iPhone subscription program, have reportedly been delayed. The Cupertino, California-based company's upcoming offerings are reportedly facing engineering and technical issues, leading to delays. Apple announced its Pay Later service and Apple Card Savings account integrated with its Wallet app last year. Additionally, a yet-unannounced iPhone hardware subscription service and an Apple Pay Monthly Instalments service are in the works, but have also reportedly hit obstacles.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman states that Apple's planned financial services are facing technical challenges. In his weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman says that Apple has found its push into the financial vertical more difficult than expected. “I believe the delays to all four initiatives stem from engineering challenges, as well as work on a next-generation financial system that will support them,” he explains.

According to Gurman, Apple is developing in-house technology to handle interest calculations, rewards, credit checks, approvals, and transaction histories, all of which are currently handled by external partners. Apple's upcoming services are another step towards reducing its reliance on third parties.

According to Gurman, Apple's Pay Later service should roll out to the public by March or April after being delayed for several months. The feature is currently in beta for Apple's corporate and retail employees. Apple Pay Later launched last year in June, offering to split purchases up into four equal payments over six weeks. Apple had then said that it was planning to fund loans for its Pay Later service off its corporate balance sheet.

The company had announced its Savings account feature for Apple Cards in October, which would allow users to “save their Daily Cash and grow their rewards in a high-yield Savings account from Goldman Sachs.” While the service was expected to launch in coming months, Gurman reports that there has been no word on the upcoming feature.

The unannounced iPhone hardware subscription service, which would let users buy iPhone models on a subscription-style monthly payments basis, was reportedly supposed to launch in 2022 or 2023. While there's no word on a new launch timeline, the service should debut eventually, according to Gurman.