Mazda bringing CarPlay to new and existing vehicles from September
Mazda has announced that from September owners of the 2018 Mazda6, excluding the Sport base model, in the United States will be able to book an appointment with a Mazda dealership to have CarPlay installed for free, and all 2018 Mazda6 models, again excluding the Sport model, sold from November will include CarPlay support as standard.
Within an announcement today as the Japanese company unveiled a redesigned 2017 CX-5 (that doesn’t yet support CarPlay), Mazda claimed the hardware and software updates needed for CarPlay will take approximately two hours to be completed.
Although unconfirmed, it is believed Mazda will eventually offer customers with vehicles released as early as 2014 CarPlay support, although Mazda themselves are yet to confirm this, and when customers can begin booking appointments to have the equipment installed.
CarPlay will enable iPhone users to access a range of apps from the MAZDA CONNECT infotainment system, such as Messages, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Radio, Pandora, WhatsApp, Downcast, Slacker Radio, Stitcher, and, starting with iOS 12, Google Maps and Waze, reports Mac Rumors.