CES 2022: BMW 7 Series to get mega rear screen

BMW claims it will bring a surround-sound cinema experience to the back seat of its incoming next-generation 2022 BMW 7 Series limousine with its 31-inch Theatre Screen.

The new curved widescreen, which rolls down from the ceiling of the limousine, will tap directly into Amazon’s Fire TV service, with 8K resolution.

Dubbed My Mode Theatre by BMW, the screen uses a 5G connection to play movies, television shows, podcasts and music in a 32:9 panoramic format.

Sound can be played via Bluetooth headphones or over the car’s Bowers & Wilkins Diamond surround-sound audio system.

BMW insists its low-latency, high-bandwidth 5G system will allow for unrestricted streaming, and that the 2022 BMW iX is the first model in the world to use the system for data transmission.

Developed by BMW’s rear-seat entertainment chief, Dr Tarek Zaki, the screen is so large that it needs to use rollers on the panoramic sunroof’s rails to tuck out of sight.

Having experienced the screen in BMW’s FIZ technical centre before Christmas, it does propose a potential problem for the driver, blocking pretty much all of the car’s rearward vision through its in-cabin mirror.

BMW also admits it doesn’t have a camera-based workaround for the issue, even though the horizontal screen looks to totally blank the horizontal mirror.

BMW admits in its own press material that the incredibly wide screen “reaches horizontally over almost the entire interior and in height from the headliner to the backrests of the front seats”.

The screen rolls down on demand, either via a touch of a button or by touching integrated sensor pads on the doors.

The screen also has a zoom function, and content can also be played in 16:9 or 21:9 formats, at 8000x2000 pixels per screen column.

Related: CES 2022: BMW iX M60 unleashed