Credit Cards

How the Apple Card Is Going to Be Huge – Without a Sign-Up Bonus or Huge Rewards

a white credit card with a logo
Written by Charlie

The Apple Card will soon be available for customers and it is going to be huge. Here is how it will be a hit without a sign-up bonus or big rewards.

This month, the Apple Card will hit the streets (or, rather, the iPhones) for the masses. From reading the forums and news stories since this new credit card was first announced, there is a ton of excitement about this credit card and there will likely be an enormous amount of applicants when open registration begins. Why?

How the Apple Card is Going to Be Huge – Without a Sign-Up Bonus or Huge Rewards

Link: The Apple Card

a screen shot of a cell phone

apple card huge

On the rewards front, the Apple Card is truly a somewhat mediocre card. Not only is there no sign-up bonus but the earnings are not even that impressive. There are several credit cards that will give you 2% earnings on spending and the Apple Card will only give you that through using Apple Pay. There are even better cards to use for actually purchasing from Apple (the American Express Business Gold card, for example) where the Apple Card gives you 3% back.

new apple card

If you are going to use the actual titanium Apple Card for purchases, that will only earn you 1% cash back. So, the rewards are pretty average to be sure. So, why is this card going to be so huge and likely be one of the top credit cards in terms of early applications?

The Apple Brand and Method

Walk through New York City and you will see little white Apple AirPods sticking out of peoples’ ears – or at least the corded earbud version. Get on a subway in any major international city and you will likely see many iPhones, iPods, or iPads being used. Go to an office and you will probably see more Apple Watch devices on peoples’ wrists that any other watch.

This is a demonstration of how the Apple company became one of the richest in history – it has been very well adopted over the years. The Apple brand is huge! The method that caused such widespread adoption in the first place of Apple devices can be found in one word –simplicity. Or, as Apple has put it, it just works.

People like to turn on a device with some power and just have things work without a ton of customization or setup. Apple is king in that regard and it is part of what has caused the brand to grow like it has. For example, I can just have a hard drive plugged into my MacBook and it will do regular Time Machine backups so if I ever need to restore it or move to a new computer, I just have to plug that drive in and wait a few hours and the new computer will look exactly like the old one (even applications will work without having to reinstall them!).

Simplicity is What Will Make the Apple Card a Huge Hit

Apple starts the whole process out with that simplicity. Simply open up the Apple Wallet on an iPhone and you will (eventually) have the option to apply for the Apple Card. In just a few minutes (and if you are approved), you will have your new Apple Card loaded onto your iPhone in your Apple Wallet to be used across your devices with the full credit limit at your disposal. This lets you get started with the card right away – and you did not even have to go to a regular bank website.

When it comes to earning rewards, that will also be simple. Earn 3% on Apple purchases, 2% on purchases made through Apple Pay, and 1% everywhere else. Combine that with the fact that this cash back will be available in your account the very next day and you again have a simple solution – no waiting 4-6 weeks for your rewards to show up in your account (though CapitalOne does this quick availability as well).

new Apple Card

Daily Rewards from Apple Card

If you want to see more details at a glance, your spending summary and details can be quickly spotted through a simple graph and color wheel. Plus, you can dig down to see more about where the spending was done and categories. While other bank apps have some similar things, they really don’t operate like this.

new apple card

Simplifying spending with the new Apple Card

Do you need to make an account update? Just send a quick iMessage and you can change things like your address, phone number, or get assistance. That is also just something so simple.

Oh, and then look at the simplicity of the fee structure:

  • No Annual Fees
  • No Late Fees
  • No Over-limit Fees
  • No International Fees

new apple card

Summary

Is the Apple Card one that should replace any card in the serious reward earner’s wallet? No – there are better cards in each area of rewards. Still, even reward seekers may still consider it for just having that simplicity when traveling – kind of like a backup card in case anything else goes wrong with other cards or accounts.

What will make the Apple Card insanely popular with possibly millions of customers is the simplicity it will have. Hopefully, issuers like Chase, American Express, Citi, and Bank of America will try to catch up a bit in some of these areas so that we are not still living in the rewards world of circa-2000 when it comes to how things are processed.

Some of the links on Running with Miles are affiliate links that pay a commission if a purchase is made. Running with Miles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

8 Comments