On Thursday, Apple manifested the 10th anniversary of Apple Pay and revealed how the service will evolve, introducing features like redeeming rewards and expanding installment loan options. In addition to new loan provision from Affirm in the U.S. and Monzo Flex in the U.K., Apple announced that Klarna support will go live in both countries for online and in-app checkout with Apple Pay.
Looking ahead, Apple strategies to expand installment loan options to include eligible credit and debit cards, such as those from Citi and Synchrony in the U.S., and other issuers working with Fiserv. Internationally, these choices will include ANZ in Australia, DBS in Singapore, CaixaBank in Spain, and HSBC, NewDay, and Zilch in the U.K. Klarna will also eventually be rolled out in Canada.
These moves come after Apple obsoleted its Apple Pay Later service, opting instead to partner with banks and lenders to provide installment loan options, keeping banking partners integrated with Apple Pay rather than competing directly.
In a newsroom statement, Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, highlighted that adding loan providers is just the beginning. She mentioned that Apple will soon offer consumers the ability to redeem rewards, allowing Apple Pay-enabled issuers and lenders to improve customer engagement. With iOS 18, Discover cardholders are already able to redeem rewards, and more partners are on the way.
Bailey also reiterated Apple’s larger goal of replacing physical wallets entirely, with Apple Wallet now supporting event tickets, transit cards, keys, and government IDs. However, the acceptance of digital IDs remains varied, with states like California, Arizona, and Georgia already supporting digital driver’s licenses, while others are still in the process of doing so.
Apple also shared espousal statistics after a decade of Apple Pay, noting that it’s used by hundreds of millions of consumers across 78 markets, available on millions of websites and apps, and accepted in tens of millions of stores worldwide. Furthermore, more than 11,000 banks and network partners now support Apple Pay.
