Apple Pay Later not coming until later this year

One of the more notable announcements earlier this year and connected to iOS 16 was Apple Pay Later. However, in his latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman says the service has been delayed until “later this year.” 

Apple Pay Later was announced at the 2022 Worldwide Developer Conference in June. When it arrives, it will provide users in the US with a way to split the cost of an Apple Pay purchase into four equal payments spread over six weeks, with zero interest and no fees. 

Users will be able to track, and repay Apple Pay Later payments within Wallet. Users will purportedly be able to apply for Apple Pay Later when they’re checking out with Apple Pay, or in Wallet. Additionally, with Apple Pay Order Tracking, users will be able to receive detailed receipts and order tracking information in Wallet for Apple Pay purchases with participating merchants.

However, Gurman says there’s no concrete evidence on when it will arrive. He writes: Apple Pay Later is one of several iOS 16 features to miss the initial release. But I think there is more than meets the eye here. See, Apple is very careful with its wording. Among the nearly half-dozen features listed as coming later, Apple Pay Later is the only one with no time frame. Every other delayed feature is listed as coming “later this year.”

This leads me to believe that the company isn’t completely certain when Apple Pay Later will be ready for launch. It’s possible the feature won’t arrive until iOS 16.4 in the spring. I’m hearing there have been fairly significant technical and engineering challenges in rolling out the service, leading to the delays.

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