Faulty MacBook Butterfly Keyboards Cost Apple $50 Million in Lawsuit Settlement

[ignatius345]

so apple had to pay 20 million but made how many billions of dollars during that 5 YEARS on the faulty keyboard. 20 million is a drop in the bucket to apple and they walked away smiling at all the faulty keyboards they sold anyway.

I don't think they walked away smiling. The 20 50 mil is much less important than the hit they took to their reputation for product quality. I still remember the infamous Wall Street Journal article about the butterfly keyboard debacle that was printed to include all the typos from the author's malfunctioning keys.

 

[Col4bin]

Not to pile on but tactile feedback on the 2018 MacBook Pro keyboard was horrendous. Was difficult to discern between certain keys while typing, especially the arrow keys. The 2019 models have a MUCH better positive user response.

 

[Col4bin]

It wasn't just the failures. Even if those keyboards were solid and reliable, the tactile feedback was piss poor. It was like typing on a piece of solid plastic.

Dude, I literally came to the comments just to type the same exact thing. My work-issued mid-2018 MBP just crapped the bed a few weeks ago and I'm on a 2019 model now. Night and day difference in the keyboard tactile response. Huge improvement.

 

[ackmondual]

I don't doubt when some people said they never had a problem with this butterfly keyboard. However, I've been seeing too many issues, including with some Mac users I've talked to IRL. Glad a class action lawsuit was successful.

Technology advancement comes from trial and error. Sometimes those trials are in released products. Clearly the butterfly keyboards performed exceptionally well in Apple's clean testing labs. That's where they failed, through... to test in normal, everyday environments.

There's nothing wrong with pushing boundaries. Thinness is one of them. It's how the human race learns. You can't fault Apple for trying to find out what works and what doesn't. It's how we advance.

They're pushing boundaries at the expense of the customers that paid for their products. That's what's wrong. And you'd think a corporation like Apple would anticipate this sort of thing. It's not like they're new to the computing and electronics market.

Just saw the Reuters story on it. Apple "denied any wrongdoing" as part of the settlement.

Yeah, standard corporate operating procedure.

 

[Tagbert]

Technology advancement comes from trial and error. Sometimes those trials are in released products. Clearly the butterfly keyboards performed exceptionally well in Apple's clean testing labs. That's where they failed, through... to test in normal, everyday environments.

There's nothing wrong with pushing boundaries. Thinness is one of them. It's how the human race learns. You can't fault Apple for trying to find out what works and what doesn't. It's how we advance.

The problem wasn't that Apple experimented but that they had no plan in case of failure of the experiment. They denied for too long and then did halfway measures for too long and it took years before they finally withdrew that design. Apple's secrecy means that they don't get good field test data, either. This was exacerbated by their manufacturing method that tied the keyboard to the whole top case making this an expensive fix every single time. That is 4 bad decisions compounding each other. 1 bad decision is understandable, 2 is unfortunate, but after that, it just looks like bad planning.

 

[BWhaler]

Nowhere near enough of a penalty. Apple knew for the better part of 5 years these keyboards were garbage. It took the Wall Street Journal shaming them with the “pick letters to go missing in this article like a Mac Keyboard” for Apple to accelerate the final generation of butterfly keyboards and get serious about replacing them.

Now, Apple needs to stop using cheap plastic on their keyboards and stop the problem where every single Mac keyboard is gross with oil and smudges.

 

[shoorty0690]

I had my keyboard and screen replaced like 4 times on my butterfly key MacBook Pro. The screen kept getting scratched because the keys raised too high. They replaced it so many times they CRU'd it with a 16" model that no longer had the butterfly keys.

I didn't pay for any repairs, but will this payout still be applicable to customers like myself? I may not have had to pay anything, but time is money, and I spent a huge chunk of time getting these keyboards replaced.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I didn't pay for any repairs, but will this payout still be applicable to customers like myself? I may not have had to pay anything, but time is money, and I spent a huge chunk of time getting these keyboards replaced.

It seems like you'll be entitled to a payout if you're in those states listed yes, but don't expect anything significant.

 

[Rogifan]

I'm one of the ones you quoted. I think Jony has been a very innovative designer. I do not have any feelings towards him as an individual.

But it was under his design leadership that these keyboards happened and it was under his leadership we got the touch bar and impossibly thin laptops that overheated way too easily.

So I feel the blame really has to go on him and also to people who enabled him and didn't put an end to these poor design choices sooner. I don't think he had to leave the company over it, but he clearly needed to be reigned in.

Because there were zero problems with the original MBA that Steve Jobs pulled out of a manila envelope and spent most of his intro focusing on how thin it was. 🙄

 

[Quu]

Because there were zero problems with the original MBA that Steve Jobs pulled out of a manila envelope and spent most of his intro focusing on how thin it was. 🙄

You mean the same MacBook Air Jony Ive designed?

The guy I just complained needed to be reigned in?... okay

 

[WestonHarvey1]

I have a butterfly keyboard and keys do stick occasionally but for the most part has been fine. Bad deal for people who got lemon keyboards. I wonder if I am eligible to get it replaced?

Not every experiment is going to be a success.

They're all lemons - you're just lucky you haven't met the right bit of dust in the right spot yet.

 

[chrono1081]

I loved the butterfly keyboard. I never understood all the hate. My old work machine still has it.

 

[femike]

That fine is nothing to Apple. It's 6 months of a singles persons salary, Tim Cooks salary.

 

[Quu]

I loved the butterfly keyboard. I never understood all the hate. My old work machine still has it.

You never understood the hate? from the people who went through not one, not two but three of those keyboards due to specks of dust stopping it from working? - I mean even reviewers were complaining, one even famously wrote an article about it on the keyboard with all the missing and repeating keys intact.

Apple revised the keyboard three times trying to fix it. Not to mention it was louder and had no travel. It was just bad.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

I loved the butterfly keyboard. I never understood all the hate. My old work machine still has it.

People hate them because they break constantly. There is a small area under the curve where the keyboards don't break due to pure luck, and you are one of the customers in that part of the curve.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I loved the butterfly keyboard. I never understood all the hate. My old work machine still has it.

They were nice to type on until they started to randomly ddouble up letterss as you typedd

 

[jtopp]

Great news! Not surprised but the lawyers seem to take a big chunk of money. It should be the consumers that should get paid the most amount of $ since they are the ones that had to deal with the butterfly keyboard.

So the lawyers you spend time and money litigating the lawsuit should get less money while you who were just inconvenienced by Having a keyboard replaced should get the majority of the money? Why would layers take a case and not get paid for it? I agree that it is wack how these lawsuits work but apple could have just done right by the consumer and designed another keyboard to replace it with.

 

[robd003]

apple keyboards are trash no matter what. ive had issues with none butterfly keyboards. my macbook and macbook air had keys break after a few days and apple refused to fix them. its one reason i avoid macbooks now. apple are to obsessed with being thin and slim. you’re paying like £1,000-4,000 for a computer with crappy cheap plastic keys.

What laptop doesn't have plastic keys??

 

[BigMcGuire]

I did not mind the butterfly keyboard. My wife and I both had 2017 MBPs with it and used them heavily with no problems for several years. You could type on those things for half a day and use a lot less energy to type vs other keyboards.

Yes, I had family members who had keyboard problems with the butterfly keyboard and got it replaced with Apple. Am I sad the butterfly keyboard is gone? Nope. Loving the current keyboard. I don't miss the Touch Bar either.

 

[goobot]

I still haven’t gotten anything from my 6s battery class action lawsuit. These things sound like scams

 

[seek3r]

Luckily, their latest computers have gone back on a lot of this.
Most of them have replaceable trackpads, batteries with pull tabs, and other things that make them easier to replace.

Modular ports too, which is nice. I still want RAM and SSD slots back, but I know that's a pipe dream (increasingly across the industry for thin/light machines, not just Apple)

 

[techpr]

Apple will pay $50 million to settle a 2018 class-action lawsuit over the faulty butterfly keyboards that were used in MacBook machines between 2015 and 2019, reports Reuters. Customers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington claimed that Apple knew about the faulty butterfly mechanism and concealed it while continuing to sell computers with the keyboard.

MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook models adopted the butterfly keyboard across 2015 and 2016, with Apple touting the thinness of the keyboard and the superior key feel and stability. Not too long after the keyboards started launching, customers learned that they were prone to failure.

Thousands of customers ran into issues with keys repeating, sticking, and otherwise failing when dust and other particulates got into the butterfly mechanism, resulting in a huge controversy over the butterfly technology.

Apple ultimately launched a keyboard repair program in June 2018, but it only covered MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models for four years, and Apple would only replace butterfly keyboards with another butterfly keyboard, so some customers have run into repeat failures that are no longer covered. The lawsuit alleged that Apple's repair program was not sufficient.

Apple tried to iterate on the butterfly mechanism to make it more durable and there were three generations of the butterfly keyboard, but all of them experienced issues. Apple ultimately started replacing butterfly keyboards with scissor switch keyboards, and phased out the last butterfly keyboard in 2020, and now all Mac models that are available use the more reliable scissor switch mechanism that predates the butterfly keys.

The lawsuit covers only customers in the above-mentioned states, and lawyers are expecting maximum payouts of $395 to customers who replaced multiple keyboards, $125 to people who replaced one keyboard, and $50 to people who replaced key caps. The settlement is preliminary and will need to be approved by the judge overseeing the case.

Article Link: Faulty MacBook Butterfly Keyboards Cost Apple $50 Million in Lawsuit Settlement

I have a 2017 MBP that it's literally a FIXED Desktop computer for more than a year connected to an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard due a complete Buttlefly Keyboard faulure and Apple refuses to fix under the Repair Program because of the 4 years has passed. This 2017 MBP also have the faulty battery that Apple also have a Repair Program and for simply days after the battery manufacturing date it is not covered by the Repair Program.

This MBP was a leamon for me. At lest it works as a desktop.

 

[nikhsub1]

I think I had 8 keyboards replace on 2 different machines. I won’t feel bad taking a share of this.

 

[davebarnes]

Where will Apple ever find that much money?

 

[kjvmartin]

I was at the Apple store so much on this. They replaced my keyboard thrice, it failed again and they gave me a new one, next year model. Replaced the keyboard on that one once and then I sold it at a loss for the M1 Pro.

$395 is really not adequate, considering the time spent and loss of resale value.