Apple still loses money because of the design from 10 years ago

Apple paid a $50 million settlement to MacBook users who filed a complaint about having to pay for the repair of the butterfly keyboard.

MacBook users who are victims of the butterfly keyboard have been compensated by Apple. Photo: iFixit.

According to 9to5Mac’s Michael Burkhardt, Apple has started paying compensation to users who suffered damage due to the butterfly keyboard error on the 2015-2019 MacBook generations.

In 2022, a US judge approved a $50 million settlement agreement between Apple and consumers who complained about defective MacBook keyboards. Judge Edward Davila of California, who delivered the ruling, called the settlement agreement “fair, satisfactory and reasonable.”

According to Reuters, there are more than 86,000 consumers who have filed complaints and are counted as members of the class action lawsuit. All consumers in the class action lawsuit will receive $50-$395 based on the number of times they have to fix the keyboard and the nature of the error.

The butterfly keyboard is one of Apple biggest design disasters on the MacBook. Since 2012, macOS laptops have been equipped with scissors-style keyboards.

By 2015, Apple began to change to a butterfly wing style with the desire for thinner devices. The company believes that this mechanism works stably and distributes pressure more evenly.

However, the design has serious flaws, a large gap under the keys causes dirt to accumulate, then gets inside, creating various problems.

This bug makes the butterfly keyboard one of the most hated features on MacBook. Apple must open a redemption program for users with errors.

In the end, after many efforts to improve but could not solve the root of the problem, Apple was forced to kill this type of keyboard and return to the familiar scissor mechanism from 2019.