BMW is set to announce today that it has reversed its controversial decision to charge Apple CarPlay users £85 per year.
Launched in 2018 with the brand’s latest ‘7.0’ operating system, customers received a year’s free subscription to the service… After 12 months, owners were asked if they wanted to let the subscription lapse or pay £85 for another year’s access.
Now, a BMW spokesperson claims, the system will be free for the lifetime of the car on all models operating the latest infotainment system. Models that aren’t, such as the i3, i8 and runout examples of the 2 Series and 4 Series, will need to pay £235 for a lifetime subscription.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple does not charge vehicle makers to use CarPlay, however there are costs are incurred in integrating it into vehicles. Most makers add this into the sticker price. BMW was the first to offer buyers a choice by listing that cost as an option.
In case you were wondering, BMW does not offer Android Auto in any of its vehicles. This is likely because BMW owners have taste and are not poor, cheap, and/or stupid.
My BMW was a year to early for CarPlay, which sucked until I found an aftermarket module that plugs I to older BMWs iDrive system. Works pretty well. Only small slight disadvantages. Way cheaper. No subscriptions.
Can’t be Steve’s BMW, since he doesn’t use a license plate.
He drove a Mercedes anyways….without a plate
Let’s hope this trickles down to North American owners. My G20 3Series from 2019 has the newer iDrive and of course CarPlay…I am dreading the day I may need to have to pay to keep using it. My wife’s old 2017 X3 had the first integration of CarPlay after the X5….wish we would have kept that but oh well