Mini has committed to circular displays in its cabins – inspired by the original 1950s Mini – despite criticism of how square Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces are displayed on its round screens.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are optimised for square or rectangular screens, so the smartphone systems are displayed inside Minis as a small window in the middle of the screen, leaving the rest of the 9.4-inch circular OLED display as open space.
This often shrinks Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze into a small window.
Asked by Drive about the awkward layout and what its plans are for the future, general manager of Mini Australia, Alexander Brockhoff, said: “The round display is unique to Mini, and we want to keep that as part of the history.
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“… Yes, when you have CarPlay, you have to kind of keep it contained to a circle in it.
“But if you then use the local navigation system, obviously, it uses the whole screen of it. When customers actually go and experience it … I think it works quite well.
“Obviously, with technology into the future, there might be more things that we can play around with.
“But at the moment, I think from a design point of view, it’s important that we keep kind of this character alive. And technology will always evolve further to make the integrations even better in the future.”
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Mini has featured a centrally-mounted instrument panel since 1959, and over the years, it evolved from an analogue speedometer to the OLED screen of today’s cars.
The first BMW-designed Mini in the early 2000s used a speedometer behind the steering wheel, and a tachometer in the centre of the dashboard, which were swapped for examples sold outside Australia.
Later generations of Mini have kept the circular interior element, but used it for different functions, including a more conventional rectangular screen in the 2014-23 model, with a conventional speedometer and tachometer behind the steering wheel.
In 2023, Mini introduced the OLED display and Operating System 9, which moves nearly all of the car’s functions and infotainment into the centre display, with additional information available through the head-up display.
The post Mini to stick with round displays despite usability concerns appeared first on Drive.
