Apple Admits to BMW Wireless Charging Issue With iPhone 15 Lineup, Promises Fix Later This Year

Apple today acknowledged a BMW wireless charging issue affecting the iPhone 15 series, and promised that it will make a fix available later this year.

BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro
In an internal memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers, Apple said charging an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max with a "small number" of wireless phone chargers built into certain recent BMW and Toyota Supra models may temporarily disable the NFC capabilities of the device. The memo does not provide a specific reason for the issue, which we first reported earlier this month.

In an iPhone, the NFC chip powers features like Apple Pay and digital car keys. Users affected by this issue may receive a "Could Not Set Up Apple Pay" error message in the Wallet app, even if they have already set up Apple Pay.

Apple Pay Error
Apple said the issue will be addressed in a software update coming later this year. Given the memo was put out hours after iOS 17.1 was released today, it appears the update will require a subsequent update, such as iOS 17.1.1 or iOS 17.2. In the meantime, Apple advises affected customers to stop using in-car wireless charging.

There are some complaints about this issue across the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter, but it is unclear how widespread the problem is. Affected customers said the iPhone goes into a data recovery mode with a white screen, and the NFC chip is no longer functional after the device reboots. There is no way for customers to fix the problem, so a trip to an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider is required.

Apple says technicians can attempt to restart the NFC chip in an affected iPhone by using a software tool part of Apple Service Toolkit 2. If this step does not resolve the issue, Apple advises technicians to initiate a hardware repair.

To book a service appointment, visit the Get Support page on Apple's website.

Related Roundup: iPhone 15
Tag: BMW
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

marzbarz Avatar
17 months ago

I love how the minimize a small number and we will fix it later. Apple should be ashamed and do better.

They refuse to take ownership sadly
what

lol. unless you have evidence to prove otherwise, it's literally a small number of chargers compared to the tens/hundreds of thousands of different chargers out there and they are literally taking ownership of the situation by replacing customer's phones out of their own pocket

too much complaining. ridiculous.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Joe Rossignol Avatar
17 months ago

Wonder why it's limited to BMW and Supra models. What's with their chargers?

The annoying thing is that even if they are out-of-spec Apple has to fix it, because the problem is whacking Apple's phones.

Edit: looks like the trolls are up late.
The modern Toyota Supra is based on a BMW vehicle platform, so it's something to do with BMW.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
frenchcamp49er Avatar
17 months ago
Kinda weird this only affects BMW's, doesnt sound like an Apple issue at all.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JamieLannister Avatar
17 months ago
One overcharges you for a cellphone while the other overcharges the actual phone.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BarrettF77 Avatar
17 months ago
I love how the minimize a small number and we will fix it later. Apple should be ashamed and do better.

They refuse to take ownership sadly
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
prefuse07 Avatar
17 months ago
It's hilarious that when this was first posted there were scores of apologists defending apple, and blaming BMW.

Where are they now?! ?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)