Has anyone heard any news surrounding the international launch of Apple Card, or even more specifically, in the UK? Obviously I'm aware Apple hasn't made a comment, but Apple Pay took less than a year after it's US launch to come to the UK. We are now around the 1 year mark since the product was announced. I realise that launching a credit card will require a lot of planning and preperation for each country. For me, Apple Card was one of the best 'products' from Apple in a while. I have a decent credit history, and I've heard Apple Card tends to give out good credit limits even to those with mid-range credit. For someone who is heavily into the Apple ecosystem, this card would be very welcome. And just as a side note, contactless cards are far more popular in the UK than in the US, and it's very unusual to have a card without contactless built in at this stage. If I recall, the Apple Card doesn't include this as it's something to do with the titanium not being compatible, but I'll be corrected on that. While the vast majority of potential Apple Card users in the UK would use Apple Pay, if they do plan on handing out a physical card, to me at least, not including contactless would be a very unusual move.
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Apple Card UK Launch?
- Thread starter thegadgetlad
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No news yet.
The Apple Card (physical) doesn’t have contactless, because you’re meant to use Apple Pay.
If they’re going to release it in the UK, it isn’t likely soon as Marcus has little card infrastructure in the UK. My bet is that they expand the US offering first.
The Apple Card (physical) doesn’t have contactless, because you’re meant to use Apple Pay.
If they’re going to release it in the UK, it isn’t likely soon as Marcus has little card infrastructure in the UK. My bet is that they expand the US offering first.
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If Apple Card does launch in the UK, don't expect the same level of daily cash that is being offered in the US. The transaction fees that card companies can charge are very low in Europe. I suspect Apple will only be able to offer daily cash on their own products and retailers that they partner with, rather than on all transactions.
This. Although interestingly, American Express are somewhat excluded from this.
In the card payment world, you have several different groups involved in a single transaction:
- The cardholder, the person at the till
- The shop
- The facilitating network, ie. Visa, MasterCard, American Express
- The issuer, ie. Barclaycard, American Express, Capital One etc. This includes bank debit cards too
However as you can see, American Express are both the issuer and the network, making only 3 separate entities. This is why the rewards on Amex cards are usually better than any Visa or MasterCard, because they can charge a lot more to process a transaction.
The problem for American Express comes with co branded cards, like their British Airways card, as a fourth entity is now introduced- BA. They recently lost their case on this in the ECJ and now have to abide by the low fees they can charge on these cards.
Otherwise Apple could have chosen American Express as their UK issuer and continued to offer much greater rewards.
I wondered what kind of cash back in the UK you get with a no-annual fee card, based on this: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/#cash
You get .5-1% cash back (1% if you spend over a threshold), after the first year. The US Amex gives 1% flat on most purchases, 2% at gas stations and 3% at grocery stores (up to a certain amount of cash back at grocery stores), so based on that the US Amex gives around double the rewards (depends on how you spend). Makes me think if Apple did launch the Apple Card in the UK, they'd try to give about 1% with Apple Pay, and .5% with the physical card/online. I wonder though with EU regulations (say if they wanted to get into the EU market too) or the UK's own regulations, would they be allowed to give a different level of cashback with Apple Pay over the physical card? In the US that was not entirely new to have Apple Pay get a slightly higher rate (I have a card, not Apple Card, that gave a small boost for using Apple Pay over the physical card, before the Apple Card launched). I imagine if they can't do that in a certain market they aren't going to bother with that market at all.
You get .5-1% cash back (1% if you spend over a threshold), after the first year. The US Amex gives 1% flat on most purchases, 2% at gas stations and 3% at grocery stores (up to a certain amount of cash back at grocery stores), so based on that the US Amex gives around double the rewards (depends on how you spend). Makes me think if Apple did launch the Apple Card in the UK, they'd try to give about 1% with Apple Pay, and .5% with the physical card/online. I wonder though with EU regulations (say if they wanted to get into the EU market too) or the UK's own regulations, would they be allowed to give a different level of cashback with Apple Pay over the physical card? In the US that was not entirely new to have Apple Pay get a slightly higher rate (I have a card, not Apple Card, that gave a small boost for using Apple Pay over the physical card, before the Apple Card launched). I imagine if they can't do that in a certain market they aren't going to bother with that market at all.
this is important as it detracts from the reason why someone would want an Apple Card.
I doubt Apple Card will even come to the UK and even if it does it will more than likely have none of the features the American one has with cash back and no fees
Credit cards are heavily regulated in Europe. Once brexit is finalised I am sure the UK will want to keep the same level of restrictions and controls on credit cards as they are now. If Apple card has something that is very unique to them and it is not something that can be used by the other credit card companies and thus gives Apple card a significant financial advantage over the main established credit cards then it will fall foul of competition laws and would not be allowed to be used in the UK or Europe.
Also one thing to note is that the 'Apple ecosystem' is not strong in the UK like it is in the US. Many people in the US who own Apple products own multiple Apple products, iphones, ipads, macbooks, imac's, AppleTV, Apple watches. In the UK it is no where near like that. Apple products in the UK are very expensive compared to that of the US and thus this put's potential buyers off and instead the opt for cheaper microsoft based computers. Also, the UK has a very strong DIY/customize it yourself approach to computers, especially gaming computers which again limits Apples foothold in the UK. People like to 'tinker' with their computers, constantly upgrading parts for better parts, something that Apple appears never to been keen on due to the limits on how much customization one can be done on a mac computer. Therefore, due to the size of the two countries, both scenerios can fit and work in the US but only one can work in the UK and that is DIY/customize in my opinion.
As such, if the Apple card is designed to be used with Apple products in mind, the company will lose money on the costs of having to run the card in the UK. I am sure Apple will give it a trial run but will then realise it is not cost effective to run the card in the UK.
As such, if the Apple card is designed to be used with Apple products in mind, the company will lose money on the costs of having to run the card in the UK. I am sure Apple will give it a trial run but will then realise it is not cost effective to run the card in the UK.
Both of your assertions are simply not correct, firstly the U.K. is 4th behind Japan globally in the number of physical Apple Stores, Apple is not opening stores in a country just for fun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Store Secondly you say that Apple products are considerably cheap in the USA, again not really correct, I assume you like many people think because you see for example a quoted iPhone price of $999 in the USA versus £999 in the U.K. that we in the UK are getting the short end of the stick, this is incorrect thinking and a product of not understanding how sales tax is displayed and applied in the USA. In the USA sales tax is NEVER included in the advertised price, in the U.K. and all of Europe it is, sales tax in USA can be as low as zero if you live in certain states up to around 7% in California but in any case the difference between sales tax or not on an iPhone even at 20% is not going to make the slightest difference to anyone wanting an iPhone which is why there are so many Apple stores in the U.K. selling a whole heap of Apple products.
I think it’s going to be like Apple Cash, which after 2 1/2 years is still not available anywhere outside the US.
UK banks are not so keen to give in to Apple demands on how the service is operated. Remember Apple Card is not really Apple, it relies on a willing banking partner to run the service as Apple wants it run. Not so easy here, especially as most institutions that would be able to run it will have their own offerings, plus challenger banks, plus things like Revolut and others.
Not saying it won't happen eventually but the market is not the same size in the UK.
Not saying it won't happen eventually but the market is not the same size in the UK.
It's just a Samsung branded Curve card though, I tried Curve last year and closed my account within a week...
So Marcus is going to launch internationally, but the markets are unknown. It's likely Europe will be a driver, whether that includes the UK is another matter.
One thing to note is that GS/Marcus is foraying into Banking as a Service (BaaS).
Marcus checking accounts are coming to the US first, but not likely the UK: there's little money to be made. Of course, Apple could pick a different partner than GS, they just need to find a banking partner who's willing to invest in the technology.