Kenwood and Pioneer unveil new in-dash receivers driven by Apple's CarPlay
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015), the Japanese electronic equipment maker Kenwood has announced the first in-dash multimedia receiver in its lineup that integrates with CarPlay. Also at the trade show, Pioneer, another Japanese consumer electronics company, has unveiled a new generation of receivers that work with Apple’s automobile dashboard standard.
Kenwood’s first CarPlay-compatible receiver is the DDX9902S, which also works with Google’s Android Auto protocol.
As for Pioneer, its second round of CarPlay-integrated Networked Entertainment eXperience (NEX) receivers include the AVIC-8100NEX, the AVIC-7100NEX, and the AVH-4100NEX, all of which are also compatible with Android Auto and the Car Connectivity Consortium’s MirrorLink standard.
Pricing and availability of the DDX9902S are yet to be announced by Kenwood. But Pioneer has confirmed that its AVIC-8100NEX, AVIC-7100NEX, and AVH-4100NEX receivers will be available for $1,400, $1,200, and $700, respectively, beginning in March 2015.
Like other CarPlay-compatible in-dash multimedia receivers, these upcoming devices let you use CarPlay in the vehicle that you already have, as opposed to using it in a new CarPlay-enabled car you probably still have to save up for and buy.
See also: Volkswagen to integrate with Apple’s CarPlay later this year, Hyundai to unveil a ‘Display Auto’ in-dash system that works with Apple CarPlay, and Ford turns towards Apple’s CarPlay system, as it drops Microsoft Sync.