In 2014, Cadillac made headlines when it announced wireless smartphone charging for its entire lineup starting with the 2014 ELR and 2015 ATS. At that time, very few devices supported wireless/inductive charging. The excitement took a turn for the better last month, when Apple announced its next-generation iPhone 8 and X models, both of which add wireless charging. Unfortunately, neither the iPhone 8 or the X can be charged wirelessly in any Cadillac vehicle except for the 2018 Escalade.
The problem appears to be with standards: there are two reigning wireless charging standards – PowerMat and Qi. Apple uses Qi in the iPhone 8 and X.
The good news is that Cadillac supports both in its vehicles. The bad news is that Cadillac’s “implementation of the Qi standard does not meet the requirements for Qi certification”, according to Apple.
2014 Cadillac ELR and 2015 ATS were the first Cadillac models to support wireless smartphone charging inside the hidden storage compartment of the CUE system. 2014 ELR center stack pictured.
This means that all Cadillac models that contain the wireless charging functionality, including the ATS, CTS, XT5, CT6, XTS and pre-2018 model year Escalade do not work with iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
Indeed, the only Cadillac to support wireless charging with the new iPhone line is the 2018 Cadillac Escalade.
This is quite disappointing, as it renders useless the charging pads in any 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and even 2018 Cadillac model, with the exception to the 2018 Escalade.
We reached out to GM for comment, but did not hear back (after a week of waiting), so here’s what we believe took place: Cadillac and parent General Motors rushed to be the first automaker to feature wireless charging in its vehicles. In that regard, it accomplished its goal – which is great for making headlines. But it’s not so great for the end user.
In all, here’s a prime example when being first to market is not desirable. Looks like Cadillac has some updating to do, and we hope that all of its future models support the complete Qi standard in order to be compatible with as many smartphones as possible, including the iPhone – the single most popular smartphone in the world.
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