You may have seen CarPlay/Android Auto dash-top screens for the car for $79 online, or off brand CarPlay radios for $59 on Amazon.
Ultra low cost CarPlay/Android Auto devices have become commonplace, and some suppliers are raising the alarm. Many of the radios claim to offer CarPlay and Android Auto when they are not licensed to do so, creating an unfair advantage to those suppliers that pay significant fees.
Two Chinese-based companies told us that their CarPlay/Android Auto radios are not licensed. We emailed a third China-based company and received a non-responsive answer.
We asked Apple and Google if they have opened up their licensing to include dash-top screens, or relaxed their licensing agreements in any way. We received no response from either.
One industry executive said, “If any of those portable dash-top radios are under $149, they are not licensed.”
Two suppliers noted that off brand radios may change the CarPlay logo to look slightly different to work around licensing issues. One confirmed, “A lot of the off-brand type products are not certified…”
Yet another supplier said, “They are not licensed and I have reached out to the Mobile Electronics Association (MEA) to help me get the industry to write a letter to Apple and Google to enforce all of this illegal CarPlay/Android Auto product coming into America. I pay huge certification fees on every product. So I can’t even be close to competitive on price. They have no fees or oversight. Its got to stop.”
Chris Cook, President of MEA said the association will draft a letter from the industry to Apple and Google about stopping these violations. Cook said, “As an industry, we have to come together at minimum, to deliver a cohesive message to Apple and request that they investigate and resolve the issue.”
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Aren’t all of these add-on to OEM screen CP/AA devices unlicensed as well?
ABSOLUTELY! Yes you are correct. However its a big market they are trying to shut down. I wonder how ZZ2 and RDVFL and others will do when they are billed for the license…. Maybe let the guys sell autoplay and sell to your customer with knowledge and explain the benefits? Idk just a thought..
In my humble opinion this issue is part of the reason wet sounds, Rockford, JL audio and others sold out. The cheap Chinese products combined with Amazons lack of moral character make a perfect storm that destroys businesses that try to do things by the book! It’s harder today to educate our customers than ever before
Okay can anyone explain to me, other than price and obvious cheaper manufacturing, what the actual difference is in one of the top notch unlicensed head units and the top notch licensed units?
I just paid a lot of money for a newer tacoma and the head unit in it is less than 2 years old… the vids I’ve watched on these unlicensed ones, they look 10 times better! I have to update to keep up with my after market audio going in…
It’s hard to sum up in words, I’ve found, but the difference is polish, usability, localization, and just overall quality.
If you look at those huge Tesla screen units on ebay, alibaba, etc.. you think “wow, these look amazing, they do everything, I can even watch football on here!” Then you install it and realize that it barely does what you want it to do, and in some cases doesn’t even do the things like control HVAC and such it promised.
Compare to a flagship Kenwood, Alpine, etc.. they just work. They don’t have goofy gimmicks like those ‘china brand’ cheap units have, but they have a heck of a lot more RnD behind them and you can count on them to do the things they say they’re going to.
That’s my opinion anyway. If you sit down with a $600 Kenwood radio and a $150 Amazon radio and just use them, I’m confident most folks will realize the differences. I think a lot of the good reviews we see on the cheapy ones (aside from botted reviews), are people who simply don’t know better. If you drive a 90hp Corolla you probably don’t even realize what a 500hp car can do.
As shops/ installers the least we can do is refuse to install the white box China junk radios at least!
Name names. Why are you afraid to do so?
Yes!
Names ? No need just look for car play units that don’t display the “made for” logo Apple gives as their certificate
This article is about to open a big can of worms. There are several MEA members that have uncertified products. I would really like to see how may of them are able to provide a document proving they are certified. There a new head unit that was just released that has an icon that says “CAR” in the CarPlay menu as a clear sign of not being certified yet is was released for sales.
Right. Like every add on carplay on the market. Every Single One!