Apple CarPlay Ultra Is Finally Here — If You’re Driving a New Aston Martin

Nick Papanikolopoulos

May 15, 2025

It took longer than expected, but Apple’s next-generation CarPlay — now officially called CarPlay Ultra — has finally arrived. Though, for now, you’ll need to be behind the wheel of a new Aston Martin to try it.

This first wave is limited. The rollout covers new Aston Martin vehicles ordered in the U.S. and Canada, with support for existing models “in the coming weeks,” Apple says. It’s a soft launch — quieter than anticipated for a feature Apple once teased as a major evolution in the car infotainment space. Other carmakers are apparently in the queue. Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are “working on” adding support. That tracks with what we heard in 2022, when Apple first announced this revamp. Porsche was on that list too, though its timeline is now unclear. (Typical Porsche, perhaps — they take their time.)

What’s Actually New in Apple CarPlay Ultra?

Apple’s pitch is integration. Deeper, fuller, and spread across every screen in the car. Not just the central display, but the instrument cluster too — speed, RPMs, fuel, tire pressure, maps, music, even ADAS data. If it matters to the driver, CarPlay Ultra wants to own that visual real estate. You get all of that via iPhone 12 or newer, running iOS 18.5 or later.

Interestingly, Apple is blending its touchscreen heritage with good old-fashioned physical controls. You’ll be able to use steering wheel buttons, knobs, or voice via Siri to control things like the climate and radio. That’s a small but smart move — nobody wants to dig through menus just to cool the cabin by two degrees.

One of the more polished touches is widget support. They’re designed to “perfectly fit” any screen size or shape, including odd-shaped instrument clusters — a quiet nod to Apple’s obsession with UI scaling and polish.

A Long Time Coming

Let’s not forget: Apple originally announced this overhaul in 2022, and said it would land sometime in 2024. That clearly slipped. There’s still no hard timeline for when CarPlay Ultra will land in more mainstream vehicles. And that’s a bit of a question mark. Automakers tend to be slow-moving when it comes to software integrations — especially when it touches the instrument cluster, an area most of them still guard pretty closely.

Read Also: Apple to launch a foldable iPhone and smart glasses in 2027

So while the feature itself looks refined, maybe even impressive in the right setting, it might be a while before most drivers ever see it.

Bottom Line

CarPlay Ultra looks like a genuine upgrade — smarter layout, better integration, and more control — but for now, it’s out of reach for nearly everyone. Unless you’ve got a new Aston Martin on order, you’ll be waiting. And that’s kind of the story here. Not what it can do, but when — or if — you’ll get to use it.

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