In September 2023, Apple launched the iPhone 15 series. However, this release wasn’t as well-received as expected. The series encountered more bugs than previous models. Users expressed disappointment, facing various issues such as slow charging, overheating, and particularly, wireless charging problems in certain BMW cars.
Today, Apple officially acknowledged the iPhone 15 series’ wireless charging issues with BMWs. They have promised a resolution as soon as possible, likely within this year.
Apple mentioned that charging an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max using a “small number” of wireless chargers integrated into some recent BMW and Toyota Supra models could temporarily disable the device’s NFC capabilities. The memo, however, didn’t specify the exact cause of the issue.
The malfunctioning of NFC chips in Apple’s iPhone can render Apple Pay cards, ticket cards, and tickets saved in the Apple Wallet unusable, as well as affect the function of a vehicle’s digital car key.
iPhone users with NFC chips encountering this issue might see a “Could Not Set Up Apple Pay” error message in the Wallet app, even if they’ve previously set up Apple Pay successfully.
According to Apple, this glitch is software-related and is expected to be fixed later this year. Notably, the memo about this issue was released hours after iOS 17.1 was launched. Based on this timing, it seems a subsequent update, such as iOS 17.1.1 or iOS 17.2, might address the problem. Apple has also recommended BMW users avoid the car’s wireless charging feature, if possible, to circumvent this error.
Several users on social media reported that affected iPhones go into recovery mode, displaying a white screen, and the NFC chip becomes inactive. Even after rebooting, the NFC doesn’t function. Unfortunately, there’s no immediate fix available for users. However, Apple technicians have mentioned that they might be able to reactivate the NFC chip in affected iPhones using a software tool from Apple’s Service Toolkit 2. If this method isn’t successful, Apple suggests that technicians proceed with a hardware repair. You can visit the Apple’s website to book a service appointment