Apple iPhone 15 users who drive a BMW or a Toyota Supra may want to avoid using the wireless charger that comes in their cars until later this year. In posts that have surfaced on Reddit, Apple’s Support community and even the forums at MacRumors, using the wireless charger may result in features that use NFC not working. The issue seems to be most prevalent among Apple iPhone 15 Pro users.
The issue seems to be linked to a certain set of circumstances when using BMW’s wireless chargers that temporarily messes up the NFC hardware of the iPhone 15. This affects features like ApplePay and digital keys.
Users who are affected will get a “Could Not Setup” error when trying to use these features after the fact. A lucky few have been able to resolve the issue with a software reinitiation of the NFC components on the iPhone 15 at their Apple service centre. However, if a software reinitiation fails, users will need to wait for a hardware fix which could take longer. It is worth noting that the recent iOS 17.1 update didn’t address the issue.
Apple and BMW are already aware of the issue. According to an internal memo to third-party service centres uncovered by MacRumors, Apple is currently looking at addressing the issue. An update for the software should be available later in the year to resolve the issue of wireless charging in BMW cars from “temporarily” turning off the NFC chips in the iPhone 15 series phones. BMW responded to a tweet from a user on X, formerly Twitter, indicating that both BMW and Apple are looking into the issue.
