Bad news keeps coming to Apple and its newly released iPhone 15. The most anticipated phone of the year seems to have overheating issues, and to make matters worse, BMW’s wireless charging is reportedly burning its NFC chip.
The issue, originally reported by MacRumors, has been mentioned by BMW car owners who reported catastrophic failures of the iPhone 15’s NFC chip after placing it on the cars’ wireless charging station.
So far, this problem has been confined to BMW owners, but it could potentially be an issue with any wireless surface, as Apple has not yet identified the cause of the problem.
A fatal flaw that necessitates a phone replacement
Users have reported receiving an error message: “Apple Pay could not be set up” in the Wallet app. The only way to fix this issue is by taking it to the Apple Store and exchanging it for a new one, as it appears that the NFC chip becomes truly unusable.
At the time of writing this article, the main affected models have been the titanium iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max with the latest A17 Pro chip. But some users have reported that standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models might also face similar issues when wirelessly charged through BMW’s surface charging system.
Apple and BMW have not yet released a statement clarifying the problem, but a faulty NFC chip in an iPhone can prevent users from using Apple Pay, cards or tickets stored in Apple Wallet, and even a vehicle’s digital key.
It’s all problems for Apple
The news comes after iPhone 15 Pro owners reported unusual heating issues with their devices.
Apple has acknowledged the problem, citing “increased background activity in the first few days after setup,” an “unspecified bug in iOS 17 affecting some users,” and certain third-party apps that are “overloading the system” as possible issues.
The good news is that Apple is working on a software update that should fix the problem. But for now, it’s probably a good idea to avoid charging your new iPhone through BMW’s wireless technology until the reported issue is resolved.
