Now there's a lot of swirl going around Apple and its take on the credit
card industry with its Apple card which can really be parsed in a few different categories.
Either "A" You are a points junkie and the thought of earning less than
five points per dollar on eBags purchases really kind of makes you sick
to your stomach.
"B" you're an Apple fanboy and you want to give as much money as you can to
Tim Cook and the rest of the executive team at Apple or "C" maybe just
went looking for a good deal.
Well you are in the right place because they I'm going hands on with the
Apple Card to find out what really differentiates the Apple Card from the
sea of other credit cards are out there today.
How does the Apple Card work and really how did you manage it. In addition
to saying whether or not the Apple Card is the best credit card for you
and your spending habits
I am Mike and this is tech 24/7 TV hit like hit subscribe. Now let's get started.
So truth be told I consider myself falling into all these categories at
one point in my life. Now I've collected my fair share of miles and travelled
first class to Europe and Asia for almost nothing.
I might have actually owned every Apple product that's been made in the
past decade or so much as my wife and I like to save money when at all possible.
Now there's a very good chance if you're an avid collector of points from
either maybe your favorite hotel or your favorite airlines that you know
this Apple Card isn't the best card for you and let's just save ourselves
both the trouble the debate.
But if you have a narrow set of spending habits the apple cart really isn't
that bad. That's because apples weaving the three core principles that
the companies really known best for into the card in order to differentiated
against the other credit cards and cashback offers that you might find
the marketplace.
First and foremost, the card is simple. Both the credit card and the accompanying
interface are going to be designed to be simple and elegant. Like most
Apple products that you find today except for the Magic Mouse 2.
That's just a disaster. But I digress. Second it's going to be transparent.
Now what's nice about this is Apple is upfront with
its customers and clearly communicates really the important details of
signing up for the card which will include like your credit limit and APR.
Even before you opt into getting the card. Many other cards don't do that.
They actually kind of tell you after the fact when you signed up what your
API and what your card it's going to be.
Now that in addition to that the credit card really has zero fees which
includes no annual fee no late fees and no international transaction fees.
Which really is kind of hard to find at that zero dollar price wonder that
zero out our annual fee.
Now the third and probably the most important is that the credit card is private.
Now the Apple card is going to use on device machine learning to organize
classify and track spending right inside the wallet app where you find
your apple card details. Now this data is predicted by the device a secure
conclave making the information only accessible on your iPhone which is
going to be a detractor there.
If you're looking to access it on the Web you cannot because all that information
is encrypted on the device. Now as long as you're based in the U.S.
You can sign up for the Apple card today using the wallet app you're going
to get an iPhone 6 or newer and the device must be running iOS 12.4 and up.
Now once you open up the wallet app you tap on the plus button the top
right hand corner you're going to verify a few bits of person information
clouding your Social Security number your date of birth and your annual income.
You'll receive a credit decision in under 15 seconds whether or not you're
approved and it's going to state what your credit card limit and your APR
is much like you talked about the beginning they're giving you that information
up front and this is really where you get to decide as a consumer whether
or not you want to go ahead and move forward with the card or not.
And this is not very common in the credit card industry. Some people have
stated that they were required to submit a copy of their driver's license
for proof of identification. Now that wasn't my experience nor was it the
experience of the 10 or so people that I know who applied.
But let me know in the comments below if that happened to you now after
the card is add to your wallet you are taken right into the apple cart
landing page which is in the wallet app you're gonna glance for information
which including your credit limit your balance and can tell you what you're
spending trends are. Additionally this is where you can request a physical
credit card if you want to. Now talking about his card in true Apple fashion
the packaging for the apple cart feels extremely premium. It's a very heavy
card stock and it carries an embossed Apple logo and strangely the sleeve
is very heavy. Even without the card inserted. But we're going to talk
about that more in a few minutes. The front the apple cart is going to
laser ash with the Apple logo on your name it.
It's actually really quite beautiful. It's gonna be this matte white and
on the front you're also gonna see the security chip the back of the car
is gonna have the same laser etching but it's actually gonna show Apple's
partner which is Goldman Sachs.
And in addition to the credit card network which is MasterCard. Now if
you didn't notice already the apple cart is completely devoid of a signature
panel on the back of the card. It has no credit card number or CV digits
and there's nothing about contacting customer service. As I alluded to
before the card cannot be activated unless the apple card is inserted inside
the company's sleeve that a chip or now there's something really special
about the sleeve.
So here I'm gonna go out and cut this part
So here we see an NFC chip that's actually embedded into the sleeve which
helps you activate the card. That's because Apple can verify that the card
owner has possession of the card because of the proximity needed to read
the NFC tag. The card itself does not have NFC based on the lack of readability
from the card either before or after the card has been activated. Now you're
gonna find a couple of novel approaches to the user interface including
the way that the apple card changes color to reflect the categories where
you're spending your money. Now I can see Apple trying to game ify you
I can make my car kill you you know all the uniform color after you partially
or fully pay the credit card the color of the card resets back to white
and then slowly fades into your current spending categories.
Now person speaking I think one of the less talked about features is probably
one of the most valuable or most helpful in my opinion that's gonna be
the due date Apple makes is dead simple when you wouldn't set up your card
your due date is the end of the of the month. As for card benefits purchases
made using the Apple card will earn between 1 and 3 percent cashback and
that really depends on how you're actually paying for things. Now the cashback
is gonna be paid dearly and there's no limit to the spending categories
like you might find on other credit cards. Now there's 3 percent cashback
for all appreciated purchases made using Apple Pay. This includes buying
an iPhone you know choosing buying a computer an accessory from the Apple
Store and it doesn't matter whether you buy it in person or online but
you do have to use Applebee but it's worth noting that it's not really
clear at this point whether device financing through the iPhone upgrade
program is included at this point.
But if you're able to upgrade your payment for the iPhone upgrade program
let me know in the comments below. What percent cashback that you've received
the 3 percent cashback has also applied to all either single app purchases
or recurring app purchases made through the app store and in addition to
movies books games and all the other stuff you can purchase as well as
Apple Music subscriptions and if you select in app purchases with Uber
and uber each. Now I really don't see any reason why Apple would include
the subscription to Apple TV and Apple arcade and even the new streaming
service like Disney plus which is going to integrate an Apple TV she could
sign up for but we'll know more at next month's iPhone event which is rumored
to be September 10th.
Make sure you subscribe notifications for the iPhone pro and Iowa's 13 coverage.
Now you're going to earn 2 percent cashback for all their purchases made
through either Apple Pay in app or in person or on the Web. Finally you're
in earn 1 percent cashback on any purchases made with a physical card where
you know where you swiping it or on websites I don't accept Apple Pay at
this point. Like I mentioned the beginning of the video apple cart is really
not perfect and there are a few drawbacks namely first of all the 1 percent
cash back when using the physical card is mediocre at best and there are
a lot of other cards that offer a better cashback rate. And honestly you
should avoid using the physical card unless you're trying to impress someone
or you really just don't care about the rewards.
Second as an card owner I can't add a second person like my wife or even
a family member as an authorized user like you can with almost every other
credit card that is out there today. And finally I think the biggest drawback
of the apple card is that you don't have the ability to pull spending data
on the wallet app. If you wanna have it analyzed you know in either you
need a budget or in Quicken or other apps like that. Now this really begs
the question in what situations does that using the Apple card make sense.
So if you subscribe to a number of different Apple services or frequently
buy content through the app store like I do. This is probably the best
card for you because a 3 percent cashback and the 0 cost already go out
and get the card. For
For me I subscribe to a number different services that are can be built
through Apple including my Apple Music family subscription for fourteen
ninety nine a month two terabytes of my cloud storage for 999 a month HBO
at fourteen ninety nine I have Apple Care on my iPad and on my watch you
different yearly apps descriptions like care whether in day one in addition
to the fact I've been known to compulsively by movies on iTunes I think
I'm making around 300 right now let me know where you're at so my monthly
spend with apples are roughly between sixteen hundred dollars a month and
at that rate I'm earning around thirty dollars a year in cash back rewards
by using another credit card maybe like the chase Sapphire card I'll be
getting somewhere around a thousand points and those thousand points are
earned kind of conservatively between a penny and a penny and a half
Which is roughly 10 to 15 dollars so again it's not really bad value if
you're spending in the right categories though it's a bit of a toss up
when it comes to purchasing Apple hardware using the Apple cart because
more often than not you can find great deals on Apple hardware through
black maybe best buy Amazon or other third party sites. That means if you
like you're an Amazon Prime subscriber and you have the amazon prime rewards
credit card through Chase. I'm not mistaken. You're gonna get something
like 5 percent cashback on all Amazon eligible purchases while the 5 percent
at Amazon is me better than the apple cards offers me to have Amazon Prime
which is going to function as the pseudo annual credit card fee.
Now you'll need to determine what's really better for you. The Amazon gift
card which you're getting from cashback. Or the straight cashback from Apple.
Otherwise using the physical Apple card is gonna be a hard pass.
Almost every other circumstance do the low cashback earn rate. Which it makes
sense right. Apple wants to discourage this behavior by disincentive izing
you and me for making purchases with the physical card. It's really not
as profitable for Apple compared to other payment channels. So at the end
of the day the apple card is simply just another credit card here.
The nuance difference here is that the apple cart is tailor to benefit people
like me and maybe even you who already live in the Apple ecosystem and
we are deeply integrated into the products that we have.
But now does the apple card make sense for everyone and the answer is no
it does not. Absolutely not. But like with all other Apple products the
apple cart is an easy decision because it offers really the same high degree
of integration across a various ecosystem products right that you are out
there today are highlighting simplicity transparency and privacy as the
paramount features. And if you're anything like me you probably already
prioritize those features which is why you're considering the card in the
first place. But the tradeoff with the apple cart is that with all other
products in the ecosystem this are designed to keep you there right and
be complementary to your iPhone making it that much more difficult when
you want to leave the Apple ecosystem.
That wraps it up for me folks. I am Mike and I will talk to the next one.
What's going on everyone. Thank
Thank you very much for watching my video on the apple cart. Now whether
or not you are in the U.S. for the launch of the apple cart let me know.
Are you excited by the premise of what the apple cart offers. Or is it
really just another credit card.
Let me know in the comments below. Hit like hit subscribe. And I'll talk
the next one.