[ghaffari46]

Since new cars don't have wireless charger anymore ,has anyone used an aftermarket one? What kind?

[BigEvan1923]

Throw a mag safe charger in your central storage compartment and call it a day. You can’t replace the pad where wireless charging was due to the nfc reader

[dmanb2b]

Originally Posted by BigEvan1923

Throw a mag safe charger in your central storage compartment and call it a day. You can’t replace the pad where wireless charging was due to the nfc reader

Heck, we have the wireless charger and still prefer to just plug the phone in and toss it under the central storage compartment.

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by dmanb2b

Heck, we have the wireless charger and still prefer to just plug the phone in and toss it under the central storage compartment.

Considering the anemic performance of the bmw wireless pad, I couldn’t agree more

[toddwalton]

Originally Posted by ghaffari46

Since new cars don't have wireless charger anymore ,has anyone used an aftermarket one? What kind?

Call local junkyards and wait for a BMW X to come in that already has one. Bring it to BMW, have them install it, problem solved.

[toddwalton]

Originally Posted by BigEvan1923

Considering the anemic performance of the bmw wireless pad, I couldn’t agree more

Not sure where this is coming from. I've got a new iPhone 12 and it's running Google Maps + Waze + Apple Music all the time and it charges just fine.

It's not designed to charge your phone from 0% to 90% in 30 minutes like USB-C. It's designed to maintain or slightly increase your % while you use it for CarPlay.

[Phasers]

USB-C charging cable is faster and doesn't leave your phone burning hot like the wireless charger does. So net positive IMO.

[huskerdoc2020]

I guess I'm in the minority...my phone usually isn't about dead when I get into my X7, so I always throw it on the wireless pad. I get a little extra charge while on my drive. If I need major battery increase, I plug it in. So for me it has it's place and I like it.

[mjr24]

Originally Posted by toddwalton

Not sure where this is coming from. I've got a new iPhone 12 and it's running Google Maps + Waze + Apple Music all the time and it charges just fine.

It's not designed to charge your phone from 0% to 90% in 30 minutes like USB-C. It's designed to maintain or slightly increase your % while you use it for CarPlay.

The wireless charger sucks hardcore. What is the point of that when I could plug it in, use Carplay, and have it charge ALL THE WAY in that time?

I literally used it once in my F90 and never used it again. I am glad our X7 didn't come with it.

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by mjr24

The wireless charger sucks hardcore. What is the point of that when I could plug it in, use Carplay, and have it charge ALL THE WAY in that time?

I literally used it once in my F90 and never used it again. I am glad our X7 didn't come with it.

It’s a 5W charger (on its best day), which is totally anemic - if you’ve got an iPhone, best case is 15W with MagSafe, some of the other android manufacturers are pumping out 65w inductive charging. Either way you slice it, the charger in the bmw leaves a lot to be desired.

[toddwalton]

Originally Posted by mjr24

The wireless charger sucks hardcore. What is the point of that when I could plug it in, use Carplay, and have it charge ALL THE WAY in that time?

I literally used it once in my F90 and never used it again. I am glad our X7 didn't come with it.

Some of us never get in the car with our phones below a 70% charge.

So when we take a 30 minute or 60 minute drive and run several apps at once (Google Maps + Waze + Apple Music for me) and arrive at our destination and we're up to 75% charge that's all we need.

My iPhone 12, and my iPhone X before it, would last me all day with a decent amount of calls/web/games/text/music during my daily commute by train and without being on a charger of any sort. Go to work at 100%, go to bed with 20%.

If you are a hardcore phone user and/or have an old piece of hardware, by all means, go USB-C wired and have at it. For most of us, we already have all-day battery life and the convenience of just setting the phone down without having to deal with messy wires and having it maintain or slightly increase our battery life makes the wireless charger a great accessory. I love it.

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by toddwalton

Call local junkyards and wait for a BMW X to come in that already has one. Bring it to BMW, have them install it, problem solved.

It’s literally that simple 😶

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by toddwalton

Some of us never get in the car with our phones below a 70% charge.

So when we take a 30 minute or 60 minute drive and run several apps at once (Google Maps + Waze + Apple Music for me) and arrive at our destination and we're up to 75% charge that's all we need.

My iPhone 12, and my iPhone X before it, would last me all day with a decent amount of calls/web/games/text/music during my daily commute by train and without being on a charger of any sort. Go to work at 100%, go to bed with 20%.

If you are a hardcore phone user and/or have an old piece of hardware, by all means, go USB-C wired and have at it. For most of us, we already have all-day battery life and the convenience of just setting the phone down without having to deal with messy wires and having it maintain or slightly increase our battery life makes the wireless charger a great accessory. I love it.

Regardless of your battery level, the tech implementation isn’t good. Nobody is debating your use-case, but a having a 5W inductive charger and expecting a modern tech experience makes for a mediocre scenario at best. But I’m impressed that whenever you enter your vehicle you’re at 70% - I’ve had every iPhone since the beginning and a few galaxy models (concurrently) and haven't found any of them suitable for all day battery. I’m hoping that the 13 pro max fares better.

[toddwalton]

Originally Posted by BigEvan1923

Regardless of your battery level, the tech implementation isn’t good. Nobody is debating your use-case, but a having a 5W inductive charger and expecting a modern tech experience makes for a mediocre scenario at best. But I’m impressed that whenever you enter your vehicle you’re at 70% - I’ve had every iPhone since the beginning and a few galaxy models (concurrently) and haven't found any of them suitable for all day battery. I’m hoping that the 13 pro max fares better.

I'm guessing here, but its likely that BMW went with 5W because of the vast variety of phones used around the world, all with different ages, all with different batteries, thousands of sketchy counterfeit ones in Asian and South American markets, it was probably the safest move. Not to mention the heat problem in that tight little compartment.

That said I think your 13 is going to fare much better for your usecase which is far more daily drain than mine. If you think of the wireless charger as something that maintains the charge as one drives, it does its job quite well.

When I had my iPhone X I was not singing the praises of the BMW wireless charger because the phone would lock up around 60 minutes into a drive and I would have to reboot both iDrive and my iPhone X to re-establish connectivity. Thankfully the 12 has not had that problem.

[ghaffari46]

Fits pretty good, got it from Amazon and it's slipped over the "fake" one,

[BigEvan1923]

Originally Posted by ghaffari46

Fits pretty good, got it from Amazon and it's slipped over the "fake" one,

I know only the MagSafe does 15w on the iPhone - does that one charge at 10?

[unfoundnemo]

Originally Posted by BigEvan1923

I know only the MagSafe does 15w on the iPhone - does that one charge at 10?

The usb-a port in the front console only puts out 5w to begin with (still better than the oem wireless charging), the usb-c in the center armrest of other rear seats will put out 15w, so expect this solution to get 5w/10w (well maybe yield like 4W in the usb-a and 9W in the usb-c depending on how well it's put together).