Apple CarPlay Ultra has been a long time coming. Announced years before it actually landed in a production car, it finally made its debut in 2025 – exclusively in Aston Martin vehicles.
Frustratingly, that exclusivity still stands as of June 2026, but the commitment from other brands is growing, and if you’re shopping for a new car with an eye on the infotainment experience, this is an important list.
Here’s everything you need to know…
What is CarPlay Ultra, exactly?
Think of it as CarPlay, but turned up to eleven. The original CarPlay was already transformative – it replaced your car’s infotainment UI with something actually usable running on your phone. CarPlay Ultra goes further.
It takes over every screen in the cabin, including the instrument cluster. That means your speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, and temperature readout can all be driven through the CarPlay interface. Apple Maps bleeds into the driver’s display. Widgets sit in the gauge cluster.
Basically Apple takes over every screen in your car.
You also get full vehicle controls through CarPlay Ultra – climate, parking cameras, audio system configuration, dynamic driving modes. Things that previously lived in separate menus buried in the manufacturer’s own UI.
During my CarPlay Ultra review, I said once you try it, everything else feels outdated.
And it’s all powered by your iPhone. The car provides the hardware data (speed, tyre pressure, engine temp). Your phone provides everything else. Siri and Apple Intelligence are baked in too, handling navigation, messages, and climate by voice.
It requires an iPhone 12 or later, running iOS 18.5 or later. And setup is one-time, after that, it activates automatically on ignition.
Who has CarPlay Ultra right now?
Aston Martin, and only Aston Martin.
The British luxury brand was the launch partner, and it’s currently available across Aston Martin’s core lineup, including the DBX S, DB12 and Vanquish.
New orders in the US, UK and Canada get it from day one, while existing owners with the brand’s next-generation infotainment system can get it via a software update at their local dealership.
Who’s getting CarPlay Ultra next?
Thirteen brands in total have committed to CarPlay Ultra. Here’s the full list as of June 2026:
- Acura
- Aston Martin (available now)
- Ford
- Genesis
- Honda
- Hyundai
- Infiniti
- Jaguar
- Kia
- Land Rover
- Lincoln
- Nissan
- Porsche
Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis were confirmed by Apple in May 2026. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that at least one major Hyundai or Kia model was expected to receive CarPlay Ultra in the second half of 2026 – so movement on this front could arrive soon if it hasn’t already.
Rumours from Top Gear previously pointed to one car in particular – the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 3.
The rest of the list haven’t confirmed specific timelines yet.
What to expect when it arrives in your car
The experience won’t be identical across every brand. Apple works directly with each automaker’s design team to build bespoke themes that match the brand’s visual identity.
So while Aston Martin’s implementation looks unmistakably like Aston Martin (with a little Apple mixed in), when Porsche or Jaguar get their versions, they’ll look like those brands too.
Drivers can also personalise within those themes – choosing colour palettes, wallpapers, instrument cluster layouts. Classic twin-dial or more modern ‘Power Bar’ style gauges, for instance, in the Aston Martin implementation.
It’s the right approach – the worst thing CarPlay Ultra could do is make every car’s interior feel the same.
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