Report: Apple to offer loans to iPhone buyers through Goldman Sachs

Apple is reportedly in talks with Goldman Sachs to offer a new kind of financing for their expensive devices — a loan through the bank. The option would be available to customers in lieu of using a credit card, says a story in the Wall Street Journal.

Currently, buyers can either pay for an iPhone, Mac or any Apple product with a credit card, cash or through different financing options. Payments for an iPad Pro, for example, can be spread out over 18 months through a deal that includes opening a Barclaycard. An iPhone X can be paid for over 24 months, with no interest, through the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program.

Apple is reportedly only talking with Goldman Sachs about the possibility of offering new loan options to customers — there are no announcements or reports that this new product is in play. But the Cupertino, Ca.-based technology company isn't having an easy time with its latest products.

Sales of the iPhone X have never hit numbers Apple originally hoped to see, even causing the stock to slip in recent months. And the company is purportedly working on new iPhones for 2018 — with plans to discontinue the original iPhone X in lieu of new iterations.

Apple just opened pre-sales for its HomePod, a smart speaker that reviewers have said has great sound — but not great integration with Siri. As a smart speaker, HomePod may not be the threat to Amazon Echo and Google Home that some had thought would appear.