Sometimes Apple components just aren’t what the company – or its legal department – would like them to be.
A class action lawsuit involving customers in seven states, including California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington. The settled lawsuit has Apple paying out $50 million to plaintiffs affected by the controversial keyboard design.
The case focuses on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks manufactured between 2015 and 2019 with a butterfly keyboard. Many of these units had a serious defect in which keyboards that would stick or just stop responding after time.
Owners of the affected notebooks discovered their keyboards were especially prone to problems from dust and debris. The butterfly mechanism within the keyboards became clogged easily, even by small amounts of dust and debris. Anecdotal evidence suggested the butterfly keyboard failed twice as often within the first year of service as previous MacBook keyboards did.
While Apple denied any wrongdoing or fault in the matter, the company would up launching a keyboard service program in June 2018 for customers affected by the issue. Eligible customers could receive free keyboard repairs for four years after original purchase.
In 2018, Apple added a membrane to the mechanism. This was described as a way to quiet the keyboard, but it may also have been a way to keep debris out of the mechanism. It didn’t really work, nor did design changes in 2019.
When Apple debuted its 16-inch MacBook Pro notebook in 2019, it abandoned the butterfly keyboard in favor of the current Magic Keyboard. The Magic Keyboard Brough back the scissor-style mechanism, which has spread to the rest of the product line.
Affected customers are allowed maximum payouts of $395, if they replaced multiple keyboards. Those who replaced a single keyboard can expect up to $125. Meanwhile, anybody who paid to replace key caps get up to $50.
For their legal fees, law firms Girard Sharp LLP and Chimicles Schwartz Kriner and Donaldson-Smith LLP can claim up to $15 million of the settlement. The settlement does still require a judge’s approval, which will most likely turn out to be a formality.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer and Reuters