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Wireless CarPlay Expands to More New Vehicles Amid Rumors of Portless iPhone Next Year

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Hyundai continues to expand wireless CarPlay and Android Auto to more of its vehicle models, including the 2021 Elantra, which began arriving to dealerships in the United States and Canada earlier this month. The new Elantra is available with up to two 10.25-inch displays — one for the digital cluster and one for infotainment options like wireless CarPlay.

hyundai-elantra-wireless-carplay.jpg
2021 Elantra is available with up to two 10.25-inch displays​

Hyundai is also offering wireless CarPlay in 2021 models of the Tucson, Santa Fe, Venue, and Palisade, while Cadillac has introduced wireless CarPlay across virtually its entire 2021 vehicle lineup, as noted by Cadillac Society.

Wireless CarPlay works over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for the iPhone to be connected to the infotainment system with a Lightning cable. The wireless connectivity will soon become more important, as reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously claimed that Apple will introduce at least one high-end iPhone without a Lightning connector in 2021, resulting in the device being completely portless.

Apple has already started transitioning to a wireless ecosystem by removing the headphone jack on iPhones and subsequently releasing AirPods, introducing MagSafe wireless charging and accessories on iPhone 12 models, and so forth.

At this point, it's still unclear if or how a portless iPhone would work with vehicles that use wired CarPlay, beyond the use of aftermarket adapters that seem somewhat hacky and don't work in all vehicles. Apple may offer a solution when a portless iPhone becomes official, or it might come down to waiting for more automakers to adopt wireless CarPlay.

Article Link: Wireless CarPlay Expands to More New Vehicles Amid Rumors of Portless iPhone Next Year
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/19/wireless-carplay-cadillac-hyundai/
A portless iPhone would be a negative thing for some iPhone users. I can't speak on percentages, but I'm sure more than a few people sync things manually from their Mac. It would take a really long time to sync vast amounts of of data wirelessly.
 
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GeoStructural said:
Can someone tell me how do I get wireless CarPlay to work?
Click to expand...
I have an aftermarket Alpine unit. Basically it uses bluetooth to connect to your vehicle, then it initiates a direct WiFi connection to your phone. From that point forward, your data comes from your cell phone plan. You start the whole process on the radio by either:
1. Initiating the bluetooth pairing process -or-
2. Actually plugging it in
 
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I would rather they focus on having keyless entry and start with the phone with iOS 14 vs wasting time on Wireless CarPlay that was introduced a really long time ago anyways. Who wants a dead battery, yuck!

Edit: Oh, forgot about port-less phones rumor. That will kill CarPlay so I hope they get that working and there is a way to keep your phone charged in your car too.
 
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rosalindavenue said:
Portless iPhone is a terrible idea, especially now that the magsafe charging is revealed as slow. This would be the bst way to guarantee that poeple who charge their phones and CarPlay users hold on to their current iPhone for 4 or 5 years instead of upgrading.
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Agree, the vast majority of iPhone users are not going to go out and purchase a new car just so they can buy/use the latest portless iPhone.
 
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At this point, it's still unclear if or how a portless iPhone would work with vehicles that use wired CarPlay
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i think it’s pretty clear, data would be transmitted through the mag safe to an adapter. Not great but that’s how I see having to do any cabled data transfers in the future port less iphones.
 
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superlawyer15 said:
A portless iphone is a dumb idea. Folks aren't going to go buy a new car just because the new iphone has no ports. What's going to happen is that people will pass on the new phone.
Click to expand...

Not really a fan of a portless iPhone myself. It’s just so easy to come home from a long day of work and plug it into my charger by the bed.

Wireless charging isn’t really wireless, the mat is still plugged in. So for me, it’s the same.
 
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superlawyer15 said:
A portless iphone is a dumb idea. Folks aren't going to go buy a new car just because the new iphone has no ports. What's going to happen is that people will pass on the new phone.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I believe that your post is completely backwards. Most of us are allegiant to the Apple product. I want a portless phone. I want car makers to add Qi charging pads to their console array. Is it a dealbreaker of buying a car that doesn't have wireless carplay...not for me? Would I prefer that the car has it, sure. I find that I rarely use the carplay in its current form because of the cabled mess going from my center array to where I put my phone on the other side of my steering wheel. My phone is easier to use mounted magnetically just above and left of my steering wheel.
 
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Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) said:
CarPlay Wireless is nice but it does eat battery. Need to have it on the charger if you don't want to be significantly drained by the time you get to your destination.
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Some cars also come with Qi chargers, but I don't know if they're fast enough to deal with wireless CarPlay power needs.

ghostface147 said:
A portless iPhone would be a negative thing for some iPhone users. I can't speak on percentages, but I'm sure more than a few people sync things manually from their Mac. It would take a really long time to sync vast amounts of of data wirelessly.
Click to expand...
Indeed. I have a bunch of music I imported from CDs that aren't available on streaming/online services. Transferring all that will take forever on wireless.
 
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GeoStructural said:
Can someone tell me how do I get wireless CarPlay to work? I have a 2021 Toyota and I am only able to use CarPlay via the Lightning port.

Connecting through Bluetooth treats the phone as an audio source but I cannot use CarPlay on the big screen.
Click to expand...
I use this adapter, which gives me the option to turn my wired to wireless CarPlay. In the iPhone you will then have two CarPlay profiles, the wired and new wireless profile. Takes a couple of seconds to wirelessly connect once you turn on the stereo.
 
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I think they'll wait at least another year before releasing a portless iPhone.
Next iPhone should be similar to 12, the classic "S" year with updated components like a ProMotion display, 5G mmwave to all customers, new SoC maybe better camera.
I think they'll save the portless iPhone for a complete redesign, maybe without the notch or with a smaller one.
And my prediction is there will be a way to connect the iPhone to the Mac for restoring data or backup. It could work without the port, MagSafe has an NFC chip inside so it can exchange some info with the phone, then setup a WiFi direct communication between the phone and the Mac, no need to transfer data via the cable but they need to have some kind of automation in place so it feels like there is an actual connection. There is also UWB they can leverage somehow.
iPhone can't just become like an Apple Watch
 
iapplelove said:
Not really a fan of a portless iPhone myself. It’s just so easy to come home from a long day of work and plug it into my charger by the bed.

Wireless charging isn’t really wireless, the mat is still plugged in. So for me, it’s the same.
Click to expand...
Where I disagree with this is the bedside. My "wireless" stand is sitting right there on my end table. I reach over and set my phone in the cradle...boom, charging. My cable, unless anchored by some clip is down on the floor. reach and find it, make sure the phone is face up, fumble alignment for a second, lay it flat since it cant stand up on its cable... It I wanna read it at 5:30am before the I get up, wife is asleep in dark room, gotta take that light under the covers a bit...cable bent around wrong way, unplug, it falls on floor, rinse repeat. Wireless, for me, is much easier and pads around the home work great for continual charging at desk, kitchen counter etc.
 
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Apple would be spitting in the face of every one of their customers if they dropped the port and didn't offer a carplay dongle.
 
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