BMW wireless charging pad could break iPhone 15 Pro Apple Pay

Some BMW drivers have reported the Apple Pay function on their new iPhone 15 Pro mobile phones has stopped working after using their vehicle's wireless charging pad.

In recent posts shared on the MacRumors Forum, Reddit and social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), affected BMW and iPhone customers have shared their frustrations about the malfunction.

Affected owners are reportedly sent error messages when attempting to set up their Apple Wallet – as well as data recovery notifications after "resetting" their phones.

Apple and BMW are yet to officially address the fault and have not clarified how many customers might be affected, or which BMW models sparked the unusual glitch.

Drive has contacted BMW Australia to see if any local incidents have been reported and we will update this story with its response.

It is unclear if the near-field communication module (NFC) inside the phone and key to the Apple Pay function is faulty – or if the vehicle's charging pad is to blame.

Unsubstantiated overseas reports have speculated it could be a result of the iPhone 15 Pro overheating while being in the car.

The near-field communication module works in a similar manner to paying with a physical credit card.

To activate Apple Pay, the user must be in close proximity to a wireless payment device such as an EFTPOS machine.

According to some online users on the MacRumors Forum, tech giant Apple offered several affected replacement phones after confirming the failure of the NFC module.

However, multiple customers on the forum mentioned their replacement phones still had the same issue when using the BMW wireless charging pad.