Major Amex Platinum Card Updates Coming Late 2025: What To Expect?

The Platinum Card® from American Express (review) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review) are among the most popular premium cards on the market. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of changes to these cards, and it looks like we’re going to see even more changes soon… possibly the biggest changes yet?

“Largest” Amex Platinum Card revamp announced

American Express has today announced plans to make “major updates” to both the personal and business version of the Amex Platinum Card later this year, with details expected to be revealed in the fall of 2025. Details are limited (non-existent, really), though the card issuer is hinting that this is “its largest investment ever in a Card refresh.”

Here’s how Howard Grosfield, Amex Group President of U.S. Consumer Services, describes this:

“More than forty years ago, we introduced the Platinum Card, and we continue to offer Platinum Cards with global servicing, unique benefits and experiences that our Card Members love. Platinum Card benefits and services resonate across generations, particularly with Millennial and Gen Z who accounted for 35% of total U.S. Consumer spending last quarter. We’re going to take these Cards to a new level, not only in what they offer in travel, dining and lifestyle benefits, but also in how they look and feel, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

In the announcement, Amex highlights the importance of airport lounge options, and how that’s an area where the company has focused. Amex also emphasizes how it has been investing in its dining and hotel programs.

What should we make of this Amex announcement?

So, what should we make of this announcement, which is obviously very light on details? A few things come to mind…

First of all, I suspect the timing of this announcement is no coincidence, despite the lack of details. We know that Chase is planning huge changes to its premium card lineup, with announcements expected imminently. Not only are we going to see a refresh of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, but we’re also going to see the introduction of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Business Card.

It sure seems like Amex is looking to steal some of the thunder here, and point out that it’s planning a refresh as well.

Now, what should we actually expect from a refresh of the Amex Platinum Card? We’ve of course seen a lot of card annual fee inflation over the years, and one wonders if the annual fee on these cards could be driven even higher — I suspect it will be.

Interestingly, Amex describes these upcoming changes as “its largest investment ever in a Card refresh.” One wonders how exactly “investment” is being defined, in this case. Which part of the changes are an investment? Presumably Amex isn’t hoping to make the card lower margin, so what does that actually mean? Or is this another way of saying it’s the biggest set of changes we’ve seen to the cards to date?

That of course raises a whole different issue. We often call the Amex Platinum a “coupon book” of sorts, given the number of credits and benefits it offers, often designed so that there’s a hurdle to maximizing them (in terms of them being broken up monthly or quarterly, etc.).

What could a major refresh actually look like? Will the card’s fundamental value proposition actually change? I can’t imagine it will, so we’ll mark this as “developing” for now.

Bottom line

A major Amex Platinum Card revamp is planned for later this year, for both the personal and business version of the product in the United States. It’s anyone’s guess what these changes will entail, though it’s described as Amex’s largest ever investment in a card refresh.

I suspect the timing of this announcement is no coincidence, given that Chase is expected to make an announcement imminently. I also imagine Amex’s changes might not be finalized yet, and will depend on what Chase does.

What do you make of this Amex Platinum Card revamp announcement?