If you own both a new iPhone 15 and drive a BMW you might not want to charge the device using your vehicle’s wireless charging pad, at least short term.
Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained on X and in the MacRumors Forums that their iPhone 15’s NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle’s wireless charging pad. The users say the iPhone goes into data recovery mode with a white screen, and the NFC chip is no longer functional after the device reboots.
The iPhone’s NFC chip powers Apple Pay, digital car keys, and other features on the device. Affected users receive a “Could Not Set Up Apple Pay” error message in the Wallet app, and there does not appear to be a way to fix the problem. While some affected users say Apple replaced their iPhone after confirming the NFC chip failed, their replacement iPhones are then vulnerable to the same issue, so there is currently no permanent solution.
While the complaints have so far been from users of Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are also likely affected by the issue. This means that any iPhone 15 owner should avoid charging their device in their BMW. (First-World Problems, eh?)
While MacRumors says it has reached out to an Apple spokesperson for comment, they haven’t as yet received a response.
