Apple aims to ease payments with Pay Later service, but users in India have to wait

Apple introduced the Pay Later service at the 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this week along with a host of other iOS features.

Apple will introduce its own take on the 'buy now, pay later' scheme with Apple Pay Later. This feature will get added to Apple Wallet following the stable release of iOS 16 later "this fall". The Cupertino, California-based tech giant introduced the payment service at the 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this week along with a host of other iOS features and two new laptops powered by the proprietary M2 chipset. The company notes that Apple users in the US will get the payment feature first, though it may roll out to other regions later.

To put it simply, Apple Pay Later will allow users to purchase a product in instalments. Customers can split the cost of the purchased item into four equal parts that need to be repaid over a specific period (up to six weeks). In a blogpost, Apple explains that users won't pay interests and no fees of any kind if the product is purchased with Pay Later on Apple Wallet. However, it cautions by saying, "A user's card-issuing bank may charge a fee if the user's debit card account contains insufficient funds".

The company also highlights that users can apply for Apple Pay Later when they are checking out with Apple Pay or in Wallet. Apple promises control over Keys and IDs for secure payments.

The development comes months after Bloomberg reported Apple's partnership with Goldman Sachs for lending credit for Pay Later. The feature would give Apple and its payment partners an edge over rivals like PayPal, and even Amazon, which began offering the 'buy now, pay later' option with 'Affirm' last August. Since the US smartphone market is largely dominated by iPhones, the Pay Later feature may attract many users.

Apple Pay Later will come to users who have access to Apple Pay. Since the feature is not available in India, customers in the country won't have access to the payment feature yet. Apple has not officially addressed why many of its features like Apple Pay, Fitness+, and even News remain unavailable. There could be multiple reasons, like market share, but we can only speculate.

Also read: | Xiaomi Band 7 aka Mi Smart Band 7 launch in global markets may happen soon

Also read: | Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2022 date for Galaxy Z Fold 4 launch leaked