New survey reveals how many people consider CarPlay a must-have in a new car

I’ve written a lot about CarPlay over the years, including questioning GM’s decision to abandon CarPlay on all of its EVs. Now, a new survey offers new details on just how important CarPlay is for people shopping for a new car, with a third of consumers considering it an absolute must-have.

The survey, conducted by McKinsey & Company and shared by Automotive News, found that 30% of people globally shopping for an electric car consider the lack of CarPlay support to be a deal-breaker. That number is slightly higher for people buying ICE cars, with 35% of shoppers saying that they wouldn’t buy a car if it didn’t have CarPlay support.

If you narrow down the survey to only include buy set in the U.S., the numbers shift slightly – but CarPlay is still a key factor. According to the survey, 25% of EV buyers in the U.S. said they wouldn’t buy a car without CarPlay. Meanwhile, 38% of ICE car buyers shared that same sentiment.

The survey also asked car buyers if they would be willing to pay more for smartphone integration, with 30% of EV buyers and 17% of ICE buyers saying they’d be willing to do so.

9to5Mac’s Take

While this survey shows that CarPlay is a key factor for many car buyers, the numbers are lower than I expected.

Last year, I surveyed over 6,000 9to5Mac readers with the following question: “Would you buy a car that doesn’t have CarPlay?”

• Yes: 734 votes or 11.42%
• No: 5,138 votes or 79.94%
• Maybe: 555 votes or 8.64%

At the time, I noted that the results were far from surprising because of the demographic makeup of the 9to5Mac audience. Still, I was surprised that “no” received nearly 80% of the votes.

At WWDC 2021, alongside the introduction of next-generation CarPlay, Apple said: “79% of U.S. buyers only consider CarPlay-capable vehicles.”

Is consumer interest in CarPlay dying down? I doubt it, but the results from this McKinsey & Company do buck the trend. The messy rollout of next-generation CarPlay certainly doesn’t help brand perception, either.