iPhone 16 Pro Max

One week ago I decided to hold off buying a new iPhone 16 because Apple Intelligence had been delayed and steep price hikes were coming.

Family members encouraged me to go ahead and make the purchase; what if Apple runs out of inventory? (It wasn't a hard push.) On Friday afternoon I went to the Apple Store and charged an iPhone 16 Pro Max to the Apple card.

It may be cognitive dissonance justifying the purchase, but the new phone is much faster than the 6½-year-old XS Max, the battery life is nearly double (after the entire day the charge was still above 50%), and the camera is a vast improvement in low light.

Later Friday afternoon the Administration announced that it was exempting smartphones and other electronics from the new tariffs. The supply of iPhones seems to be assured, but I am glad I made the purchase anyway.

Apple Savings

Despite the year-long rise in interest rates, our major-bank savings account rate has not budged from 0.03%(!) On our average balance of $10,000 we earn a handsome (sarc) $3 per year. Meanwhile, last week Apple launched its Savings Account that pays 4.15%. (Accounts under $250,000 are managed by Goldman Sachs and are insured by the FDIC.} Your humble blogger is not so wealthy that he sneezes at the difference between $3 and $415.

Establishing the Apple Savings account took a couple of minutes on the iPhone. I opened the Wallet app, tapped the Apple Card and the three dots (...) in the upper corner and selected Daily Cash. Setting up the Savings Account required entering my Social Security Number for tax reporting and checking a withholding option.

The bank account that pays the monthly Apple Card charges is the same account that is used for savings deposits and withdrawals. I immediately transferred $1,000 into Apple Savings.

I feel myself getting richer already.

In the Cards

Goldman Sachs is one of the premier investment banks on Wall Street. It's been trying to leverage its prestige by entering the consumer space:

I caved to the marketing hype

Goldman’s new consumer bank, which operates under the brand Marcus, has lost $1.3 billion since launching in 2016. It spent heavily to buy startups and cloud-storage space, hire hundreds of techies, and build call centers in Utah and Texas. Loans have gone bad at a higher rate than that of rivals.

and got an Apple Card

Marcus launched without a collections team to chase down delinquent borrowers, resulting in early loan losses, people familiar with the matter said. A credit card developed with Apple Inc. was a coup, but a costly one: Thousands of engineers across Goldman were diverted to finish it in time for an August debut, delaying other projects.

Apple ads for the card carried the phrase: “Designed by Apple, not a bank”—a line that didn’t appear in a giant banner ad in Goldman’s lobby this fall.

It's easier for an upscale line to go down-market than the reverse. The risk is watering down the brand, and a failure in execution could tarnish Goldman's name. Even if the Apple Card succeeds, the cultural changes wrought from managing millions of retail accounts might prove too much for the venerable investment bank, and it wouldn't be surprising if a spin-off or even a divestiture is in the cards.