Audi did away with their rotary dial in 2020, BMW kept it alive for a couple of years but ultimately succumbed to the (presumably cheaper) touchscreen.
Yes it’s definitely cost cutting. The previous setup had both rotary controller and touchscreen, but you never needed to use the touchscreen as the rotary controller was infinitely easier and safer . As far as I know, they’ve ditched it on everything below the 3 Series, but I suspect that it will ‘creep’ up the range.
I live in hope that they might reverse the decision, as in every review of a new generation lower grade BMW that I have watched or read, the reviewer has pretty much said, word for word, the same thing – that they just don’t understand why BMW have ditched what was universally regarded as the best infotainment setup in the business.
Having driven several of the new generation BMWs, I can attest to the fact that it’s a hugely retrograde step. The latest iDrive systems are extremely complicated and not as intuitive as they once were, and trying to find where things are on the move, let alone making changes, is beyond distracting.