I'm thinking about bypassing CarPlay altogether and just using my iPhone via HDMI
This skips all the nonsense with Chinese Android systems and gives me the full iPhone interface while parked when I want it. My head unit. (Alpine ILX7020) already supports this, although ironically when the previous owner plumbed the wiring to my stereo they didn't plug in any HDMI ports.
I would have to run a HDMI port to somewhere useful like the glovebox or centre console. I'm wondering if I should. My only problems are that:
- HDMI doesn't charge the phone at the same time.
- Lightning to HDMI dongles are hideously expensive.
- The screen on my head unit is getting long in the tooth and is only 480p
I could also go back out to a second screen with a splitter and run 1080p but on a 2003 CLK that was never designed for an infotainment screen I wouldn't know where to run it to, and the rear seats are practically useless so that's not an option for where to put another screen.