BMW announced they will no longer charge owners the $80 per year subscription fee to use Apple CarPlay in any of its new 2019 and 2020 model year vehicles. CarPlay will also be restored for those who have previously paid for the subscription service that’s now expired.
Although Apple does not charge automakers for the feature so the BMW subscription was said to be for the cost of integrating CarPlay with ConnectedDrive. The news has come as a result from angry customers having to pay a premium for the infotainment technology that is otherwise offered for free from almost every other automaker.
BMW will directly contact owners in the near future to notify them of the change, which is good news for this holiday season. Though the automaker has yet to make any announcement regarding the lack of Android Auto support.
