BMW owners who have purchased the iPhone 15, regardless of the variant, should be careful about the wireless charging stand in their car. Reports are now mounting that simply using the charging function threatens to destroy the NFC chip in the iPhone. After that, you can no longer use Apple Pay.
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Meanwhile also reports from Germany
While users from the USA have been particularly affected so far, there are now also similar reports from Germany. There has been no reaction from Apple yet; When asked by Mac&i, BMW only stated that it was working on technical analysis – apparently in collaboration with the iPhone maker. Meanwhile, BMW customer service must now advise iPhone 15 owners to avoid wireless charging in their BMW or use a charging cable. You should definitely take this seriously.
What exactly is happening here is still unclear – it is possible that the NFC chip is malfunctioning due to (very high) radiation. However, the wireless charger in BMW vehicles is a standard QI-compatible component. The iPhone doesn’t seem to get too hot when charging, ruling out heat effects. The fact that there is no official warning from Apple yet is confusing users. It’s not clear how many models are affected, and it appears to be mainly newer BMW vehicles.
30 minutes on charger, Apple Pay disabled
A new owner of a 2024 BMW X5 told Mac&i about his problem with the charging base. “My new iPhone 15 Pro was left there to charge for about 30 minutes. The iPhone did not get hot, just a little warm. (…) After using the BMW charging stand, the iPhone reported an ‘Apple Pay’ system error,” And the iPhone is booted into recovery mode.” In addition to Apple Pay, the car key function was also no longer usable: the BMW unlocked as we approached and then locked again shortly afterwards.
The affected person did not receive any real assistance from Apple or BMW. A blessing in disguise: A defective iPhone 15 Pro can be returned to Apple due to a relatively new purchase and start a new order. “However, the return label expires in two weeks, so I have to resubmit the return request if the new iPhone doesn’t arrive for another three weeks,” the person in question said.
(Bachelor’s)
