According to Bloomberg, Canadians will be able to leverage Affirm to purchase Apple products. The option will be available online and in-store.
A formal announcement of the partnership is expected by August 11th.
Why it matters
Apple has been offering interest-free installment programs for its products via its Apple Card for quite some time. In fact, its partner for its installment plan was rumored to be Goldman Sachs.
The news that Goldman Sachs could power a BNPL program for Apple didn’t come as a surprise. After all, Goldman Sachs issues the Apple Card.
But this (somewhat) counters the narrative that Apple is taking a full dive into BNPL, at least with Goldman Sachs. This could be due to the fact that the Apple Card’s installment plans are not available outside the U.S., and Goldman Sachs has limited capacity to bring its offering to international markets.
However, Affirm, and its competitors like Afterpay, operate across the globe. These companies have done a lot of the messy work when it comes to navigating local regulations. They have also acquired a large number of customers for Apple to tap into.
Additionally, this gives Apple ample opportunity to experiment with a variety of partners that are capable of helping it scale a broader BNPL program integrated even more tightly in the Apple ecosystem.
In the meantime, Affirm gets to enjoy a share bump and can breathe a sigh of relief that Apple, at least for now, won’t attempt to steal its lunch.