I can confirm my iPhone gets really hot too when on the wireless charging pad in my G20. Sad to see they haven't fixed it in the i4... My phone (I tried on different iPhones (X, 11, 13) and it's the same thing will all of them) doesn't turn off but it's really really hot after a long drive.

 

Both @alex.j and myself noticed that our phones got really hot on the wireless charger during our test drives. We both regularly use wireless charging at home without an issue, so it isn't the phone. He has a Samsung S21, I have a Samsung S21 Ultra.

Obviously it's difficult to get much feedback on this until people get their own cars but if people get chance to try this on a test drive can they feedback here? Goog or bad and phone model.

Did you, or @alex.j, have "Fast wireless charging" (Settings > Battery and device care > Battery > More battery settings) active?

 

In my case no. I deliberately charge slower, overnight, to get better longevity out of the battery.

 

Me too. So that is not a possible fix.

 

It is a well-known problem of bmw which apparently they still haven’t solved. In the 7 series exactly the same thing, wireless charging makes the phones get really warm and doesn’t really charge the battery that well m… I don’t understand why they don’t work something out for this

 

The iX wireless charger compartment has an airflow channel below the phone, probably to allow the phone to cool off while charging. My Samsung S9 does heat up some when I charge it at home, but never to the point of stop charging, though I experimented with several after-market phone holders with wireless chargers, most of them allow the phone to heat up so much it shuts down the charging, especially when you use the navigation while charging. I often discharged the phone using the nav while on the wireless charger.

 

That sounds more like an issue with the phone itself given that it does that with multiple chargers. Some phones do seem to be more prone to that.

 

During my test drive the same problems. A very, very hot iphone, so i did not order the option. I will use a cable for charging. In the i4 the somewhat closed charging place for the phone does not help dissipating the heat, and a phone laying flat on the charger either.

I don’t understand that car manufacturers develop EV’s with thermal heat managemant for their own batteries, but sell wireless charging pads without the same amount of thermal management. It seems they find it normal if you have to buy a new phone every two years cause by overheating the battery. That is definately not durable.

 

I don’t understand that car manufacturers develop EV’s with thermal heat managemant for their own batteries, but sell wireless charging pads without the same amount of thermal management. It seems they find it normal if you have to buy a new phone every two years cause by overheating the battery. That is definately not durable.

My thoughts exactly.

I have been trying to work out what is going here. I don't think the enclosed space is the issue. The heat normally generated isn't great and I had the compartment open so normal convection currents should be enough to remove the heat. It also isn't easy to work out what is getting hot. Is it the phone or is it the charging pad and that is transferring the heat to the phone as they are in contact.

I am not an expert on Qi charging but I know a little and that it involves communication between the devices. The phone is a fairly passive device in that it is only taking what magnetic field it can get and converting that to power. It controls its own charging and so if it works fine with other wireless pads, I can't see how the BMW can be doing anything that would make the phone itself heat up, so I suspect the heat is coming from the pad and being transferred to the phone.

I suspect that the charging efficiency between the two is not good so the phone requests that the pad ups its power output and consequently it heats up. Why would the efficiency not be very good? I would suggest phone cases and the alignment of the coils of the charger. Because of how it works, the charging efficacy falls off fairly steeply the further the distance between the coil in the charger and phone. More upmarket chargers sometimes have multiple coils to improve the chance of a good alignment. There is a good article explaining how it works here - Why more coils does not always mean better charging

These are the charging coils on a Samsung S21 (this is an x-ray and you can see the two coils in dark grey in the center:

I believe the larger coil (seen in the centre of the photograph) is the coil that is used when the phone is being charged (the smaller inner coil is because the S21 can be used to charge other devices like ear buds, so it can act as a charger itself). As you can see, it is off centre, closer to the bottom of the phone. When I charge on a pad at home, I offset the position slightly to get the phone charging well. We don't know if the BMW pad has multiple coils or where its coils are located but because of the size of the charging pad enclosure, you can't adjust the alignment if you have a big phone because it only just fits the space. If BMW uses a single coil and it is right in the middle of the pad the charging pad coil and the phone coil are not going to align well. Phone cases also make a difference because they increase the distance between the coils. I have a charging pad on my computer case but it only works when I take my phone case off. It would be interesting to see if removing the case in a BMW makes a difference. It is probably also worth trying to rotate the phone 180 degrees to see if you can get a better alignment.

All said, this is just supposition and may be way off the mark. It would be useful to get some input from BMW, anybody got any good contacts?!

 

J_P, good explanation and one I’ve heard before. It makes sense.

I always go naked with my phones, ditching the case. So I think I tend to have less issues with wireless charging than some. My wireless home charger also magnetically pulls the Iphone to the phone’s sweet spot, so that the coil alignment is always good. Too bad BMW doesn’t have something like that.

 

J_P, good explanation and one I’ve heard before. It makes sense.

I always go naked with my phones, ditching the case. So I think I tend to have less issues with wireless charging than some. My wireless home charger also magnetically pulls the Iphone to the phone’s sweet spot, so that the coil alignment is always good. Too bad BMW doesn’t have something like that.

When I pay $1200 for a phone I'm going to protect it with the best case, the Otterbox Defender, which is heavy and thick. I'll just keep it charged with a cable, no naked phone for me.

 

I rented an M850i last summer on Turo.com and can confirm the wireless charger made my phone get HOT. Ended up plugging it in. still did wireless CarPlay, and the HUD integration from Apple Maps was a real game-changer. Particularly telling me which lane to be in!

 

I don't use wireless charger : too few power, phone battery continues to fall while driving

 

Me too

 

First experience on a longer ride with iphone13 and wireless charging. Dissaster. Got really hot and turned off. Removed protective case, same
Issue. Also i left the cover open. Pfft

 

Wireless charging is by definition a disaster (you have to add electronics to get a lousy performance), on the i4 it's also poorly implemented (not powerful enough, unventilated and too small area). My phone is too thick, my wife's is too long. And, yes, we use protective shells.
When you put it in (without the shell) it happens that phone slips during the journey and no longer charges.

💖 USB C: 3A, 0 extra electronics​

 

Tested it for +-45min with Samsung s20 and a (thin) cover and didn't get really hot (quite similar to my wireless charger at home). Note: I disabled 'fast wireless charging' on my phone

 

My phone does not slip . But i cannot turn of fast charging on my iphone. Just drove 1 hour with the lid open en ok ( warm but phone stayed one ). I will see what it brings. Else indeed a normal cable if needed

 

For those that removed the wireless charging... do we know if that package bundled any additional features?

Obnoxiously, in my 2020 m340i, the Wireless Charging bundled Enhanced Bluetooth (6NS), which meant that I missed out on the additional microphone and some SMS dictation features.

 

It's only wireless.

Waiting on my Tanzanite M50!

 

I have the same wireless charger in my G01, and never had any issue. Also no issues during the full day I borrowed one m50.
Its an iPhoneXS.

 

New 2-series with clever phone charging and iDrive 8

This solution (12 min in the clip) will for sure be the next wireless charging solution upgrade in coming versions of BMW: Place for 2 phones in upright position facing driver and passenger, ”phone belt” and ventilation - and no usb charging port harassing. A bit later in the clip he says that...

www.i4talk.com

It would be a huge upgrade to have the new 2-series solution in i4 2023 model:
-space for 2 phones
-phone screens visible from driver and passengers
-phone belt
-wireless charging + ventilation
-two usb chargers in much better position

 

From what i think its a combination of using waze and charging at the same time (or any other heavu consuming pp ). I will try without using it and just charge. Because when i was using waze is charged slowly.

 

Indeed, wireless charging does not compensate the decharge when using android auto / apple car play (gps, gsm, bluetooth, wifi). No problem with usb + you can use the phone (most apps are not available on android auto)

 

I got myself wireless charging pad only because dealer was not sure if it is exactly like in normal 3/4 series that it's a prerequisite for Apple car key
But that will be the first option to be switched off (it's charging capabilities)
USB plugged in cable will also be a protect for any spilled liquids

 

But that will be the first option to be switched off (it's charging capabilities)

Is that definitely possible? It comes as standard in the UK on the M50 but (at least on one test drive) roasts my phone so I would love to be able to turn it off if I can't resolve the issue.

 

What a mess - in iDrive7 i read there was an option to switch this ----------- off (and I don't see it in iD8)
So only solution is to put 3-5mm rubber mat on the pad or put pho e downwards in order not to change

 

 

I was thinking about the same, but wondering if it would screw up apple car key as well

 

Or a thicker case. In the summer, I use a thicker case that has a mount in it for my motorcycle. No wireless charging with that case.

 

If you have the USB charging cable in, then that should disable wireless charging in the phone.

Or you could fully disable wireless charging in the phone if you don't usually use it but I do a wireless charge every night so that solution is a bit of a pain for me.

Could be a rubber mat for me too...reminds me of my childhood 😔

 

I have wireless charging but started using the wire. The phone gets way too hot on wireless charging. I have a Flip3. Even though the hardware is similar to a S21 I can't use it as digital key. Ridiculous.

 

I had an i4 e40 for couple of hours to run a little bit of test drive. My phone S22 Ultra with Spigen gets so hot that charging stops. I was unable to use phone for couple of minutes due to internal temperature once removed from charging pad. This makes wireless charging useless.
I have never ever ever ever an issue with my A5 or A6 or any other car with wireless charging. I wonder if there is any option to add radiators under the charger to remove heat.
Also USB-A port instead of USB-C port in this area is weird setup :/
However, I did found Android Car wireless damn good. Easy access, Waze fully operational, spotify via Harman Kardon sounds really good.
My car is still not yet delivered, but I do like i4... Next time will take M50 for a ride

 

You’ve got to be kidding me! This is an issue in my 330, but I expected the transmission heat could have been contributing. If it’s still an issue in my i4, I’m going to make them keep replacing it until they fix the issue!

 

No problem with an iPhone 12 thus far.

 

When it’s been charging for 20 minutes or more, check the phone and touch the pad to check temperature? In my 330, 20 minutes is about when the phone goes into overhead and the pad is noticeably warm/hot. No way the phone makes it more than 30-45 minutes…

 

I am not going to fix BMW's design flaws by switching fast wireless off while I am driving i4. I have dedicated several days to fight with Audi to fix damn connect feature until they have fixed esim, so I will be happy to go after BMW to get wireless charging pad exchanged until they will fix it.
Again - I have had no issue with wireless charging and overheating in my A5 or A6 or any other car I was using as a rental.