The Apple Card is another node in the Cupertino giant's overarching strategy of retaining consumers within its sprawling ecosystem moat.
However, the Apple Card has turned into a veritable loss-making engine for Apple's financial partner, Goldman Sachs, leading to increasing chatter around JPMorgan's possible takeover of the scheme in 2026.
The Apple Card might be powered by JPMorgan soon
The Apple Card debuted in 2019 in partnership with Mastercard and Goldman Sachs. The card offers an unlimited 2 percent cash back when used with Apple Pay, or an unlimited 3 percent cash back when used at Apple's partner merchants. Moreover, the card entails no foreign transaction fees, no late fees, and no returned payment fees, while offering a 0 percent financing APR on Apple's products.
However, these cashbacks are reportedly incurring huge losses for Goldman Sachs, prompting Apple to search for other banking partners. What's more, the card's high growth rate and the attendant regulatory requirement to front-load reserves, as well as a higher-than-average delinquency rate, have aggregated to create a huge headache for Goldman Sachs, which is already facing mounting losses due to its lax lending standards.
While Apple has reportedly held exploratory talks with American Express, Synchrony, and Barclays in recent months, JPMorgan appears to have emerged as the leading contender to power the Apple Card, and remains poised to take over the huge loan book that comes with it in the event Apple does issue a formal green signal. Do note that JPMorgan is expected to drive a hard bargain, potentially culling some of the card's most winsome features.
Of course, under the original agreement, Goldman Sachs was supposed to power the card through 2029. Even so, given the apparent disinclination on the part of Goldman Sachs to continue, and the plethora of reports that have come out in recent months on the supposedly advanced stage of talks between Apple and JPMorgan, we would hazard a guess that 2026 stands a fair chance of seeing an Apple Card revamp.
The fate of the Apple Card Savings Account, however, remains uncertain as these talks progress. Do note that the card and the Savings Account are not closely linked. Apple might choose to discontinue the service entirely, especially as JPMorgan does not offer its own high-yield savings account, or continue to retain it with Goldman Sachs.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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