Why Goldman Sachs wants to help pay for your $1,000 iPhone

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has long been in Apple’s corner, raising tens of billions of dollars for the tech giant through the years.

Now the investment bank wants to take a step further and help customers finance their iPhones.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Goldman is in talks with the company to offer financing to shoppers looking to buy gadgets ranging from the iPhone to its Siri-powered HomePod.

The deal would allow customers to take out a small loan from Goldman instead of charging it to their credit cards, which often carry high interest rates.

Neither Goldman nor Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) responded to FOX Business’ request for comment.

But an analyst covering Apple told FOX Business that while the news of the deal is definitely “out of left field” for the Wall Street firm, it’s definitely needed to help push customers to buy more.

“It's helping Apple get fence-sitting customers over the hump of a $1,000 phone, while Goldman would be able to get a piece of this $500 billion market over the next three years,” Daniel Ives, the chief strategy officer at GBH Insights said, adding that he is still surprised by the move but “when Apple calls, you answer the phone, even if you're Goldman.”

Horace Dediu, an analyst covering Apple at Asymco, said “no instruments exist to securitize” the iPhone 10 years after the popular product was launched.

“Because of this, GS may consider an opportunity to develop such instruments and essentially capture the surplus financing value of a billion or so units,” Dediu said.

The talks between the two companies are still being carried out, with a possibility the deal could still fall apart, the Journal reported.

In 2016, Goldman made a move beyond its Wall Street turf by launching Marcus, an online lender that helps people refinance credit-card debt. Additionally, last May, the company announced that it’s branching out even more by embracing retail banking and personal loans.

Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein told the Journal is February that the reasoning for the move is simple. “We’re a bank. We should act like one.”