Today marks six years since Apple launched the Apple Card in the United States. Introduced on August 20, 2019, the card was rolled out in partnership with Goldman Sachs and billed as a secure, user-friendly credit card designed to work seamlessly with the Wallet app.
The Apple Card was notable for its deep integration with iOS, offering digital-first features such as real-time transaction tracking, color-coded spending summaries, and Daily Cash cashback rewards. It also included a minimalist titanium physical card—stripped of numbers or expiration dates—for use where Apple Pay isn’t accepted.
Apple Card launched alongside the iPhone 11, as part of Apple’s growing push into financial services, and was seen as a significant move into a new market. Over time, Apple added features such as Apple Card Family, which lets users co-manage credit and build it together, and Advanced Fraud Protection. In 2023, Apple introduced Apple Savings, a high-yield savings account tied to Apple Card, further deepening its consumer finance offerings.
Despite these enhancements, Apple Card has never expanded beyond the U.S., even though demand exists in markets like the UK, Canada, and Europe. And that hasn’t gone unnoticed—back in 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in an interview that the company aims to bring Apple Card “to every country.”
One possible reason for Apple’s slow rollout abroad is that, in many other countries—particularly the UK and parts of Europe—digital banking is already well ahead of the U.S.
Consumers in these markets have long enjoyed features like instant notifications, spending categorization, and seamless app-based banking, through services like Monzo, Revolut, and Starling. In contrast, Apple Card’s standout features in the U.S. are considered standard or even basic by international users.
Another challenge is the complex regulatory and banking infrastructure in each country. Apple partnered exclusively with Goldman Sachs for Apple Card’s launch—a bank that had little or no consumer credit footprint outside the U.S., limiting Apple’s ability to scale internationally.
But that may be changing.
In recent years, tensions between Apple and Goldman Sachs have surfaced, with reports that Goldman is looking to exit the consumer finance space altogether. Apple is now rumored to be in talks with new potential banking partners, including international institutions better positioned to support a global rollout.
f Apple secures a new partner with broader international reach, it could finally unlock Apple Card’s expansion into other markets. However, six years later, the Apple Card remains available only in the U.S.