I recently took delivery of a 2012 MCS and started looking for a spot to store my sunglasses. After some investigating, I discovered that the armrest will slide open and that the tray inside can be removed giving more space to store my glasses. I found a small connector inside the compartment (at the rear) and was wondering what it's for. Any ideas?

 

Mobile phone charger.

Did your sales person bail out on you?

 

I thought that he covered a lot, but we never covered the hidden connector. How does one connect to that port? I do not have anything that looks like it would connect to that connector.

 

Look at page 161 in your owners manual.

 

Once the plastic piece comes out (the one you took out) you can add a Cell Phone Cradle. These are made by MINI/BMW for some phones but not all. Many larger phones like the Galaxy SIII will not fit in there with a cradle so they do not make one. And then there is the "how popular factor", if it is not a popular phone there will not be an adapter made, then there is the how long has the phone been out factor, most phone that are less than 1 to 1.5 years old dont have adapter yet either.

And depending on options in the car as to what else that connector may or may not serve. Like If you have MINI Connected and certain other options it may or may not be able to album art from an iPhone. But only iPhones are supported by MINI at this time for MINI Connected.

 

yup it should be for a snap in adapter