Neither of those outfits are likely to adopt the kind of underwriting standards that Apple will want in place.
Nobody — even the subprime folks like Synchrony — is going to concede the interchange fee revenue that GS surrendered to Apple. That’s the truly shocking part of this story.
My bet is on Synchrony, in all honesty. I kinda hate them but I’ve had better experiences with them than GS. A lot of their problems come down to outdated technology and that’s something Apple will certainly fix for the Apple Card. A good partnership might even see Apple lend some expertise to Synchrony on their other products. Their account management system feels like it was designed in the 1990s on Web 1.0.
You should be building up credit with other issuers. Even if all the drama wasn’t happening here with Apple Card and GS. Not a good idea to have all your financial eggs in one basket.