Apple Pay Later is the company’s take on a buy now, pay later service
theverge.com
theverge.com
On the topic of phones and loans, I remember reading the reason people line up for blocks for new phones: there are a lot of people who have bad credit and can't get normal loans, but they can usually pay for the phones in installments, so they buy these phones on day 1, flip them easily and quickly (and maybe even with profit) and in effect they've gained a loan...
[1] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/introducing-...
Generally if you buy a smartphone as part of your cell plan, you need to pass the same kinds of credit checks. Then, you're tied to that phone with hurdles to transfer it to someone else (which you'd need to so they can put their number with it). Then you'd need to consistently pay these loans off, which doesn't intersect very well with the kind of people who have bad credit.