I'm about to sound like an Apple Card ad, but it's a very interesting product/project. I believe what we are seeing is exactly your "expectation #2" but that Apple is ahead of you on it.

Everything about the Apple Card "project" already seems like it is trying to bridge Goldman Sachs' high end banking reputation/support (in the US at least) with relatively more low-end customers than Goldman Sachs has previously engaged with.

It's not entirely obvious if this is Apple trying to leverage their platform/install base (in the US) as a force multiplayer to get better banking platform-as-a-service products than would otherwise be on the market or Goldman Sachs showing interest in better serving a low-end gap in their customer portfolio. It's most likely some combination of both, and you can find evidence for both.

On the Apple side: This savings account just announced, at face value from the PR announcement, is a better value savings account than I've seen as a consumer product from any major US bank, though I'm not a heavy comparison shopper. No fees, no balance minimums, and high interest/high yield? In my experience, that's a Pick-2 triangle in the current US market among the major banks.

On the Goldman Sachs side: Since the Apple Card, GS has purchased more consumer card products and expanded some of their subsidiaries in consumer banking, a lot of that under the brand name Marcus. I'm aware of this because I've now got two cards banked with GS because Capital One sold a card brand, I and relatives have had a long consumer relationship with to Marcus.

Apple definitely seems to have (successfully) bridged GS to more customers outside of upscale-banking sweet spots if Marcus is enough evidence. Apple also seems to be bridging the gap in low-end access to upscale banking products.

(The Apple Card may be a "usual high-interest credit card", but my brief survey of comparable cards it still has a higher rewards output to lower interest rate ratio than most cards I've seen, even discounting that the Apple Card is quite technically innovative. I note that I've got a great credit score and "firmly" middle class income, and Apple Card is still one of the best offers I've seen, though again I'm not the strongest comparison shopper I know. I've anecdotally heard it has a much lower bar-to-entry credit score and lower income requirement than most comparable cards, but that's obviously hearsay and I don't know if such information is public or transparent in any way. And of course "must own an iOS device" is still a "huge" barrier to entry for some of the truly underbanked.)

> The actual technical innovation in this product

I'm not sure we can discount that about this Savings Account yet that it isn't technically innovative. High yield savings accounts are notorious for slow transfers and transfer restrictions (in both directions, which is often why you should never direct deposit to a savings account). This press release sounds like this new savings account will hardly have any transfer barriers/boundaries/fees, which is impressive, but also I would not be unsurprised if Apple was using new tech innovations to underpin it, at least at the banking platform level. It may not be exciting user-facing technical innovation, but it may still be technical innovation. Of course, we don't know yet for sure and we'll have to find out and I'm merely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised.