A third of consumers say they refuse to buy a car lacking smartphone integration and most don’t want a native system
Automakers reject Apple CarPlay and Android Auto at their peril. Roughly a third of consumers refuse to buy a car that lacks smartphone integration, according to a new McKinsey & Co. consumer survey.
Thirty percent of global electric vehicle buyers and 35 percent of global internal combustion engine car buyers said a lack of support for smartphone integration is a deal-breaker. That figure may have big implications for General Motors, which said in December it is phasing out such integrations in future EVs.
In the U.S., consumers are similarly rigid — 25 percent of EV buyers and 38 percent of gasoline-powered vehicle buyers would not purchase cars without smartphone mirroring.
“If an OEM moves away from seamless smartphone integration, obviously that’s a risk,” said Kevin Laczkowski, global co-lead of McKinsey’s automotive and assembly practice.
There is a bit of nuance in the survey results — some drivers would be willing to pay for smartphone integration, including 17 percent of gasoline-powered vehicle buyers and nearly 30 percent of EV buyers.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mirror the mobile phone interface on infotainment screens, and the services are popular. Both saw installation rates above 90 percent in a midyear survey of 2023 model year vehicles by Wards Intelligence.
But those displays have become an infotainment battleground — automakers are leery of ceding more of the in-car experience to tech companies. Vehicles are becoming more software-enabled, so the infotainment center is a crucial touch point for drivers and a visual signal of differentiation. Automakers see the interface as a portal for selling car owners profitable subscription services and cementing brand recognition.
CarPlay’s dominance in particular has received extra scrutiny.
The U.S. Department of Justice has homed in on what it says are Apple’s anticompetitive practices using CarPlay. The next generation of the phone-projection system is capable of extending from the central infotainment screen across additional displays, like the instrument cluster. The department said that would force an “iPhone-centric experience” on drivers in an antitrust complaint brought against Apple in March, though industry experts say there is more to the story. Automakers would have to agree to extend the arm of CarPlay and create the technical conditions to make it possible.
Aston Martin said the next generation of Apple CarPlay, including displays across multiple interfaces, will be compatible with some systems this year. Porsche is also featuring the new version of CarPlay in some upcoming models. Other automakers, meanwhile, are trying to wrest back control of the infotainment experience.
Rivian Automotive Inc. and Tesla Inc. support neither Apple CarPlay nor Android Auto. Initial research from Rivian suggested 70 percent of its customers wanted CarPlay in their vehicles. That declined to 30 percent after customers familiarized themselves with the company’s native system, according to Bloomberg.
GM believes it can follow suit.
“The infotainment experience should feel custom to each driver and vehicle,” said Anna Yu, a GM spokesperson. “We’re moving toward a native system that easily syncs with the customers’ phone of choice, and enables deeper integration with vehicle controls and status, alongside features like voice assistant, navigation, music, texts, calls, apps and more.”
Indeed, native infotainment systems have improved significantly in recent years.
“Automakers have learned a lot about interface design” over the last decade, and “systems have gotten vastly better than they were,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst for e-mobility at Guidehouse Insights.
But there are hurdles to consumers adopting native infotainment systems. In a separate question on their survey, McKinsey researchers asked what car owners would do if smartphone integration was no longer available in their current vehicles.
Only 35 percent of global respondents said they would switch to using a native system provided by the automaker. Fifty-two percent said they would only use their smartphones, while 14 percent said they would switch to a different car brand for their next purchase.
In the U.S., only 28 percent of respondents said they would switch to the native system. More than 60 percent said they would keep using their smartphones, while 10 percent said they would switch brands if smartphone integration were cut out.
Automakers believe they can win customers over with their native infotainment systems, even if those customers first express interest in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Abuelsamid agreed. He said just as drivers got used to smartphone projection, they will get used to native infotainment systems. Once consumers “try out these native systems without projection, many of those” skeptics “will probably change their mind,” he said.
McKinsey issued its biennial Mobility Consumer Pulse study on June 12. The consulting firm surveyed more than 30,000 consumers in 15 countries that account for more than 80 percent of global vehicle sales.
Among other insights from the survey, more than 4 in 10 U.S. EV owners said they’re likely to revert to an ICE vehicle for their next purchase.
