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I love it when people think a business sells something, lets a customer take 6,12,18,24,36 months to pay it off and it's interest free.. The interest is already in the price of the product. The company is going to get their money.
People buying it on interest free installments from Apple are paying literally the same price as someone who pays for it in full immediately. While what you said could be true about other companies, it is not true with Apple.
 
That isn’t true. At least in the US. There are no penalties for paying it off early. I bought a 14” M1 Pro on a 12 month installment and paid it off in 8 months. No interest paid.



This is also not true (again US, don’t know about other countries). You get the full 3% no matter if you purchase outright or use the 12 month special financing.


Edit to add: Jeez people, Apple is not out to get you with these deals. There is no motivation for them to upset a potential long term customer by doing shady stuff, especially money. While you may be paying them over time, they get to claim the full sale on their quarterly share holder report. The positive impact on their stock price is more than worth whatever it costs them to provide 3% back + 0% for 12 mod.
I’m in the US & just bought 3 iPhone 14s. Two on 24 month 0% finance & looking at my statement = no cash back. The other one I paid full price up front & looking at my statement = 3% cash back.
 
It doesn’t work that way. You can payoff the entire balance in month 1 with no penalty if you wanted just like any other no interest store financing program.



You get 3% of the total in cash back no matter how you pay with Apple Card. The total cash back is given at the start rather than at each payment if doing installments.
I just bought 3 iPhone 14s. Two on 24 month 0% finance & looking at my statement = no cash back. The other one I paid full price up front & looking at my statement = 3% cash back.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if there has been a high rate of late payments and defaults (re: Apple purchases) and GS and Apple are trying to mitigate the losses.
Apple is probably worried about this given the state of the world economy at the moment. I might be mistaken (I'm not an accountant), but I believe that when Apple 'sells' a product the full price goes down as revenue/profit on their income statement even though they are only received 1/24 the money each month which boosts their top and bottom lines. You need to look at the cash flow statement to see the real situation where the 'to be paid' amount would go down as "accounts receivable" but financial analysts seem obsessed with 'income'.
99 percent of people are not doing what you are doing. They are buying what they don’t have then cash to buy.
How do you know that?

system to keep broke people in debt
No - it's a system for Apple to keep selling ever-increasingly priced items to people whose real-terms income is falling
 
This means Apple wants you to pay off and upgrade your Apple Watch every single year. Every 12 months or so. Furthermore, It's interest-free so you can't beat that.
With interest rates higher, it’s becoming more expensive to offer interest-free promotions.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if there has been a high rate of late payments and defaults (re: Apple purchases) and GS and Apple are trying to mitigate the losses.
Likely this, as well as the cost of offering the promotion.
 
Apple is probably worried about this given the state of the world economy at the moment. I might be mistaken (I'm not an accountant), but I believe that when Apple 'sells' a product the full price goes down as revenue/profit on their income statement even though they are only received 1/24 the money each month which boosts their top and bottom lines. You need to look at the cash flow statement to see the real situation where the 'to be paid' amount would go down as "accounts receivable" but financial analysts seem obsessed with 'income'.

How do you know that?


No - it's a system for Apple to keep selling ever-increasingly priced items to people whose real-terms income is falling
The way these programs typically work is that the bank pays Apple upfront based on what they expect to collect. So if a customer purchases a $480 item on a 24-month installment plan, Apple might get $400 today, which is its revenue. The rest goes to the bank to cover the cost of funds, credit losses, and the bank’s normal profit for lending.
 
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I buy all of my Apple products this way. I always pay it off early, but getting 3% cash back on the entire purchase up front and the option to have no interest payments if needed is nice. There is really no downside unless you are poor with managing debt.
 
Lol this site is such a demographics bubble. There are a lot of people out there that depend on these types of plans for basic things. If it’s at 0%, I personally see no harm. Now, 20% would be a much different story. But 0? More of the risk is in apples side then the consumer at 0
 
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I wish the computers were 24 months. It would make the decision to upgrade a lot easier. I would totally go for a Mac Studio with that deal.
When Macs get their 5G/6G modems then your country's telco may offer it on a 24/36/48 month contract.

Buy into the cheapest data plan.
 
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Did anyone notice they also are changing the details of iPhone purchases using Apple Card Installments? Looks like starting August 15, 2023 you won’t be able to finance an iPhone using Apple Card unless you have postpaid on AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon.
IMG_0069.jpeg
 
Did anyone notice they also are changing the details of iPhone purchases using Apple Card Installments? Looks like starting August 15, 2023 you won’t be able to finance an iPhone using Apple Card unless you have postpaid on AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon.
I imagine there might be some anti-fraud angle to that, but it does seem unfortunate.
 
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I like free money like the next person, but paying $15/month for my Apple Watch seemed silly. Apple should adjust the interest free payment plans based on amount. Less than 1k, 12 mos., more than 1k, 24 mos.
 
I imagine there might be some anti-fraud angle to that, but it does seem unfortunate.
True. I can also see those carriers pushing for it since if you bought unlocked you could bypass the $35 upgrade fee. But unfortunately it sucks even more for people like me on MVNOs and not one of those "Big 3"
 
I wish every item is 12-month. 24-installment plan is simply too long for an iPhone.

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way. The interest-free loan is nice, but from an organizational standpoint I'd rather clear the monthly recurring stuff quicker, especially for a comparatively cheap item.
 
I wish they would extend a Mac purchase to 24 months. I buy all my devices on payments (and typically pay off early) and the Watch is easy to chunk down. A MacBook Pro, which I would keep for many years, I wish, could be extended to a longer interest free term.
 
I wish every item is 12-month. 24-installment plan is simply too long for an iPhone.
You can pay it off after 1 month if you wish. Why not have a longer term for those who want to pay for a device interest free over 24 months.
 
If anyone understands the time value of money, Apple is going make a killing cutting the time in half paying off this hardware.
The working capital pick up is there, to be sure, but this is more likely related to default rates. Shortening the payback period will reduce defaults, and that's a bigger cost to them than anything related to having the cash sooner.
 
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The working capital pick up is there, to be sure, but this is more likely related to default rates. Shortening the payback period will reduce defaults, and that's a bigger cost to them than anything related to having the cash sooner.

I agree, I think Goldman Sachs is pulling the strings here. They got a bunch of defaults and it scared them so bad the abandoned their own plans to enter the direct to consumer credit card market.
 
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