BMW Wireless Chargers Are Frying iPhone 15s, Apple Reportedly Acknowledges

Newly-release iPhones are having their NFC chips cooked by BMW wireless chargers - and that includes the Toyota GR Supra’s

Ryan Hirons

27 Oct 2023

BMW Wireless Chargers Are Frying iPhone 15s, Apple Reportedly Acknowledges

If you’re the owner of an iPhone 15 and happen to have a BMW with a wireless charger, you may want to stick to a USB cable for the time being. Reportedly, Apple has confirmed the combination is frying the brand-new phone.

More specifically, it’s apparently causing failures of the NFC chip. That’s what the phone relies on to conduct wireless charging, along with other features like contactless payments.

Reports of this happening to the iPhone 15, as well as the Plus, Pro and Pro Max, have been cropping up from owners - with one Reddit user claiming their 3 Series’ pad is “essentially an oven heater”.

Only iPhone 15 and its derivative models are said to suffer the issue

Now, according to MacRumors, an internal memo at Apple has stated that a “small number” of wireless chargers built into certain BMW models (and notably, the Toyota GR Supra) may temporarily disable NFC capabilities on the device. No specific cause for the issue is stated, but MacRumors goes on to state that Apple will address the issue in a software update later in the year - heavily suggesting it’s a phone-side issue rather than a BMW hardware issue.

It’s worth noting that there are no widespread reports of earlier iPhones suffering the issue, nor Android devices, meaning this could be related to a new component in the iPhone 15.

The Toyota Supra is said to suffer the same issue

Though neither firm has made a comment publicly, Heise.de reports that BMW customer service is advising owners to avoid using the iPhone 15 with its wireless chargers at the moment. Sound advice, we think.

Apple and BMW have had something of a long-standing working relationship. BMW was one of the first manufacturers to implement wireless Apple CarPlay, and has allowed iPhone users to utilise the device as a digital key for a couple of years - something Android owners have only been able to do since earlier in 2023.

BMW UK declined to comment when approached by CT.

Ryan is Car Throttle's News and Features Editor, landing here in 2023. When he’s not writing cars, you’ll find Ryan pretending to drive them on Gran Turismo or playing with radio-controlled ones.