In 2019, after months of gruelling work, executives at Apple and Goldman Sachs were gearing up to unveil Apple Card, a landmark move for the iPhone maker’s burgeoning ambitions in financial services.  

As the launch date approached, the partners hit a sticking point. Apple, keen to be seen as providing unique value for customers and with a habit of grandiose marketing claims, wanted to peddle the product as the “most secure credit card ever”.

Apple had leverage. Goldman saw the Apple Card as a pivotal product to show it could cater to Main Street customers. “The offering to Goldman was — ‘hey, you don’t have a consumer product and guess what? We can get you access to all Apple customers,’” says a former Apple executive. “Apple was aware so they squeezed everything they could out of that negotiation.”