iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro pre-orders started today, and while many customers have successfully placed their pre-orders, some have experienced issues when attempting to complete their purchase with an Apple Card or Apple Pay.
Some customers have turned to Twitter to express their frustration with the pre-ordering process, sharing screenshots of errors that they received, such as "there was a problem with the card details you entered" or "something went wrong." Apple's system status page does not yet reflect any widespread issues with the Apple Card or Apple Pay, but it's clear that quite a few customers have been impacted by the issues this morning.
In the U.S. and the U.K., some affected customers are trying to place their pre-order through the iPhone Upgrade Program, but this is not always the case.
There isn't a clear-cut solution to the issues for now beyond switching to a different payment method, but for Apple Card holders, this could mean missing out on 3% Daily Cash. The pre-ordering issues have also resulted in some customers missing out on securing their preferred iPhone 13 configuration for launch day delivery on September 24, as delivery estimates have already started slipping into October for some models.
Update: Apple has since acknowledged the issues on its system status page, noting that "some Apple Card customers are not able to make iPhone Upgrade Program purchases." Apple said it will update the page when the issue is resolved.
Citizens One not taking Apple Card was not on my Bingo card for this year’s iPhone cycle. — Craig Hockenberry (@chockenberry) September 17, 2021
The funniest thing about Apple not accepting Apple Card for payment of the Apple iPhone, is that the receipt will no doubt say “you could have earned 3% back if you’d used Apple Card to pay for this” #iPhonePreOrder pic.twitter.com/CXsnlSnjF8 — Dave Wood 🇨🇦 (@DaveWoodX) September 17, 2021
Well this was fun. 😑 For anyone trying to order the iPhone 13 using an Apple Card, try switching to a muggle card, instead. Seems to have better luck. 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/bkBew7zHIf — Howard Pinsky (@Pinsky) September 17, 2021
Top Rated Comments
Why do I have to renter my payment info when the Apple Card is already in my wallet and set as default payment method on the app? I had to use another card after Apple Card auth failed for almost 20 minutes. Very frustrating experience this year!
Update 11:21am MST
Was able to finally access my Citizens One account and change my payment info over to the Apple Card.
09/23/2021: 2:35pm MST
Received notification that the charge for my iPhone 13 failed, yet somehow all my other charges went through.
Somewhat surprised this issue has yet to be resolved.
Finally got through to Apple Card/Goldman phone support and they said there was no record of a failed/declined transaction. They didn’t confirm but certainly sounded like this has been all they’ve been dealing with all morning.
It is surprising that whatever load testing this system underwent this still happened.
I don't give much leeway to Apple on this. No, "well, goldman sachs..." or "citizens wouldn't do..." whatever the issue was, Apple should have handled it by doing their own mitigation.
This is possibly the world's most powerful company, handling orders for its most valuable product using its own financial product. Get it together.