Apple on Tuesday launched an option in its digital wallet allowing customers to pay for online purchases in installments, making it the latest company to embrace the buy now, pay later trend.

It’s Apple’s take on a buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, built right into Apple Pay and coming with iOS 16. Buy now, pay later services have been on the rise.

But increasingly, they’re sharing the spotlight with Buy Now, Pay Later companies. On Cyber Monday, BNPL purchases hit an all-time high , up 43% from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics.

Buy now, pay later services, which offer shoppers a financing solution and credit card alternative, have been embraced by more than 100 million people around the globe in less than a decade.

The affordability illusion. The exact amount owed to BNPL services is unknown, but between 2019 and 2021, the number of such loans in the US increased by 1,100%, according to the CFPB.

Don’t get stung by buy-now- pay-later services: ... That’s according to new research by Consumer Reports, which looked at major companies’ lending, privacy and consumer-protection policies.

The company forecasts shoppers will purchase $18.5 billion worth of goods using the third-party services for the period Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, with $993 million worth of purchases on Cyber Monday alone.

Its new (micro) subscriptions service will also try to extend the pay-later philosophy to readers who are say, only interested in subscribing to the sports section of a full news site. Readers might ...

Buy-now-pay-later services (BNPL) ... They said the company also capped late-payment fees at 25% of the order value. Customers are offered small spending limits when they first join, ...