I'm not familiar with Apple Card, but aren't all privacy measures only point-of-sale facing? As in, you pay with a random card number and the shop can't track y

I'm not familiar with Apple Card, but aren't all privacy measures only point-of-sale facing? As in, you pay with a random card number and the shop can't track you, but Mastercard obviously still has a record on you. So unless Apple is a middleman able to issue Mastercards on their own behalf(?) for their customers, I don't see how much more privacy they can offer.