This is why I am NOT interested in wireless pad charging for my iPhone, even if my iPhone 12 supports it.
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Apple Admits to BMW Wireless Charging Issue With iPhone 15 Lineup, Promises Fix Later This Year
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In the world of interoperability, the one who can fix it the easiest implement the fix, even if the problem is the other guy. That's just how it works. Car recalls and replacing hardware costs a lot of money. Rolling out a software fix is super-easy, relatively speaking.
Why isn't it Apple's problem? Because generally speaking, Apple writes their software drivers to spec. In fact, they're notorious for exposing problems in hardware...like that weird USB proxy issue a few years ago.
Hardware can be a lot flakier, and to be frank after a certain point in time hardware guys don't check to see if the hardware parts from vendors are in spec anymore...they assume that it is. You can test each batch, but it's expensive. Even defense contractors don't do that consistently.
Nobody cares until they do. Apparently their chargers have been causing problems for a while. Now the panic-laden phone calls start. Then you hear "yes, it's not our issue and we've been telling them about it for a long time but we have to fix it because BMW doesn't want to spend $40 million to recall all their cars." That's what being a "partner" is about.
Why isn't it Apple's problem? Because generally speaking, Apple writes their software drivers to spec. In fact, they're notorious for exposing problems in hardware...like that weird USB proxy issue a few years ago.
Hardware can be a lot flakier, and to be frank after a certain point in time hardware guys don't check to see if the hardware parts from vendors are in spec anymore...they assume that it is. You can test each batch, but it's expensive. Even defense contractors don't do that consistently.
Nobody cares until they do. Apparently their chargers have been causing problems for a while. Now the panic-laden phone calls start. Then you hear "yes, it's not our issue and we've been telling them about it for a long time but we have to fix it because BMW doesn't want to spend $40 million to recall all their cars." That's what being a "partner" is about.
Unless it’s the hardware that’s frying the NFC chip on iPhone 15s, which means wireless charging unit needs to be replaced.
Which is what I think is the case here.
There's a lot of reasons to not prefer wireless charging, but I'm not sure this is one of them. It's not like there haven't been bad wired chargers out there that damaged (and in some cases hacked into) devices.
I feel bad for those who bought a phone and for a commonly used feature ( one i use every day) it will not be available to them. Later this year!!! it not acceptable timeframe to me.
So many quick to defend Apple here. The reality is that the BMW charging mats existed in the marketplace before the iPhone 15 launch and there's a few hundred thousand of BMWs driving around the world that have these. That's a failure of Apple's QA department in iOS, CarPlay and hardware wireless charging teams to rigorously test in these settings.
i'm sure its easy to test. knowing auto manufactures its the same wireless charging unit in each of the affected cars. They dont make new ones for every model.
We have no data to suggest whose problem it was exactly. BMW wireless chargers have been around for years now and the iPhone 15 Pro is the first one to have a problem. It is very likely an Apple issue.
Why BMW and not others? Could be a number of factors we aren’t clear on. For instance, my BMW wireless charger includes a cell phone booster to boost cell phone signal. Few wireless chargers in cars implement them due to the extra cost. The combo could lead to the iPhone 15 overheating. Or it could be something else.
You got stuck to the BMW<>Apple problem, which btw. also includes Toyota, and probably more car manufacturers, you're completely ignoring that it works flawless with all other iPhones and many other mobile phones, except iP15 .
Anyway, it still doesn't matter, simply because this ideal partnership and co-working scenario you came up will never always work out, that's unrealistic. Yes, It could have worked in the context of two big players like BMW<->Apple, but not generally.
You find all kind of wireless chargers now a days on Amazon & Co. , as i said also on Airports Charging Stations, Restaurant Charging Stations and Furniture's e.g Tables with build-in wireless chargers, etc.
Apple can't blame all the manufacturers, nor ask their customers to be careful on which wireless charger they place their iPhones.
Apple also can't call all Airports worldwide and say, "Howdy this is Timmy, we want you to replace the 999999 wireless chargers of all your Airport Charging Stations, because we've just released a new hot 💩 that could break once a customers places their iPhone on it, trying to charge."
It's Apples obligation to make sure the iPhone does not brick, if a customer places it on a wireless charger that doesn't work as intended or doesn't follow their specification.
I'm not saying it's just Apples fault it doesn't work and charge, I'm saying it's Apple fault for allowing the iPhone 15 to brick.
That's why Apple admitted that it's their fault, and it's Apple that has to harden/fix the iPhone 15 against malicious wireless chargers. They know that they failed, just like with the USB-C cables bricking MacBook ports a while back.
Work flawlessly != Bricking
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Doesn't seem to be a BMW-specific nor iPhone 15-specific issue.
People have reported similar issues with their Audi, Tesla, Ford,...
iPhone wireless charging in BMWs causing overheating
Multiple reports of problems with iPhone wireless charging in BMWs do not appear specific to the iPhone 15 line-up, but...
9to5mac.com
But other cars and iPhone models afffected
However, others are reporting that they experienced the same issue with the iPhone 14 Pro Max and with other car chargers.
[ . . . ]
9to5Mac’s Take
At this point, it seems likely that what we’re seeing is an exacerbation of the overheating issues which Apple says is caused by a bug in iOS 17, and which most affects iPhone 15 models.
Which would explain how Apple can fix this with a simple iOS update.
"It's going to take a lot of engineering to f*** up something as simple as the transference of electrical energy by inductance."
James "JC" Maxwell, 1860
James "JC" Maxwell, 1860
These BMW cars were already in production prior to the release of the iPhone 15. How would BMW know if Apple had changed their NFC hardware and software that had previously worked with previous iPhone generations and new Android phones?
If you have worked in development of tech hardware, then you would know the "have no doubt" is just a hypothesis. It's almost useless without supporting data. This is not a proper root cause analysis and corrective action in an engineering environment. Any sane engineer would not make such "no doubt" claim without the supporting data.
Someone suggested that NFC could be switches off while loading the device wireless. This would be a software fix. Other phones seem to do exactly that.
They'd have to be specific with turning it on/off though, as the MagSafe Battery Pack for example uses NFC for communication, no?
Why do think the same BMW car did not have issues with iPhone 14 and older and other Android phones?
Yes, it's possible the problem is with BWM. I am just curious why do think with certainty that the iPhone 15 is not the problem.
From anecdotal reports the chargers in BMWs are prone to overheating phones. That implies that the chargers are out-of-spec, because Qi standards control for device heating (devices using Qi chargers aren't supposed to overheat if you implemented it correctly). Control of that is on the charging side, not on the phone side.
If you're out-of-spec on one dimension it's more likely that you're out-of-spec on other dimensions as well. Sorry, that's a judgement based on years of hardware/software interfacing, and that's where I would start looking.
But again, root cause is irrelevant. Sometimes when you're a partner you have to take it in the behind even if it's not your problem.
It could still be a design flaw with the chargers, but they might find a way to fix it with software so it's easier than recalling all the cars affected. Or it could be an iPhone error, until they specify what it its, you can't be certain who is to blame...
That logic can also be applied in the other direction.
Why is iPhone 15 the only phone experiencing this issue? Lots of BMW owners use wireless charging with other Apple models and non-Apple phones without malfunction.
We don’t have any hard facts. Everything posted here is anecdotal. Phones get hot in lots of wireless chargers from different vehicles and brands. Hell, my iPhone 11 gets warm in my pocket when I drive because it is doing wireless CarPlay. Extra warm if it put it in the wireless charger (BMW X5) but nothing breaks.
It is both. The BMW wireless charger is horrible. It makes my Android phone uncomfortably warm to touch without actually charging it (2-3% increase in 90 minutes, while using the car's Infotainment and making no calls), and triggers a "XX applications were forcibly closed because they were causing the phone to overheat" message.
But the iP15 is unique too, as it's the only device thus far that's seen a somewhat-widespread permanent-ish hardware failure due to the overheating, which Apple has indicated that they can prevent (and potentially repair?) through software.
It's the combination of the two that manifests this problem, not either in a vacuum.
I used to own a Toyota Supra and apparently BMW's wireless charger used in that car includes some sort of antenna to improve the cell signal. The antenna did work, sort of, which was a good thing because the Supra seemed to act as a faraday cage and killed my phone reception (the price of style I guess). But the charger was basically useless as a charger and would seriously heat the phone up and not actually increase the charge on the battery. Even driving for several hours the phone would basically stay at the same level of charge (and almost get too hot to touch). While this sorry excuse for a wireless charger was included in the "premium" trim of the Supra it is a $550 option on a Z4 (hello BMW). So those people are probably not pleased about this whole thing. No idea whether the antenna aspect has anything to do with the iPhone 15 problem or whether it's just the fact that the charger plus your phone doubles as an induction range to keep your coffee hot.