Apple to face class action over MacBook butterfly keyboard
Apple on Monday was denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit leveled by MacBook owners who claim the company was not only aware of a flaw in the design of its butterfly keyboard, but took steps to conceal that fact from potential buyers.
MacBook Pro with butterfly switch keyboard.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in an order handed down in San Jose, Calif., today said Apple failed to present convincing arguments in its bid to toss claims of the case lodged in May.
Plaintiffs leveled multiple claims involving various MacBook models manufactured from 2015 and MacBook Pro models produced from 2016 which rely on Apple's butterfly keyboard mechanism. The ultra low-profile switch is advertised as more responsive and robust than traditional scissor-type counterparts, but a small portion of users found the vital component fails during regular use.
As noted in the suit, Apple's butterfly keyboard can in some cases succumb to small amounts of dust or debris, which impede normal switch behavior and cause keystrokes to go unregistered. Other issues with the key design include repeating characters, unresponsive key input and "sticky" keys. The company was allegedly aware of the flaw, but continued to sell the claimed faulty MacBooks at customers' peril, plaintiffs claim.
In its motion to dismiss, Apple said it presented owners with viable options to remedy the problem, including a variety of at-home troubleshooting methods and a repair program initiated in 2018. Earlier this year, Apple extended program eligibility to include 2018 MacBook Pro models
"The Program is an appropriate remedy under the CLRA because Plaintiffs can have their keyboards fixed free of charge and/or receive a refund for repair expenses if Plaintiffs paid to have their keyboards repaired," Apple argued.
Plaintiffs, however, note the voluntary program is ineffective because it fails to address the core issue. Further, faulty keyboards are replaced with parts bearing an identical design, leaving the door open for failure. Apple also does not compensate owners for out-of-pocket expenses during the repair process.
Reuters reported on the order earlier today.
Apple appears to be moving away from butterfly switches, as the company's latest 16-inch MacBook Pro ditches the slim profile keys in favor of a more traditional scissor type design. Whether the kerfuffle over butterfly keys prompted the shift is unclear.
Plaintiffs in the case seek damages, legal fees and demand Apple publicly disclose the keyboard design as flawed. In addition to damages, the suit calls on Apple to fix or replace defective units, with the latter demand covering reimbursement for the purchase of replacement laptops.
MacBook Pro with butterfly switch keyboard.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in an order handed down in San Jose, Calif., today said Apple failed to present convincing arguments in its bid to toss claims of the case lodged in May.
Plaintiffs leveled multiple claims involving various MacBook models manufactured from 2015 and MacBook Pro models produced from 2016 which rely on Apple's butterfly keyboard mechanism. The ultra low-profile switch is advertised as more responsive and robust than traditional scissor-type counterparts, but a small portion of users found the vital component fails during regular use.
As noted in the suit, Apple's butterfly keyboard can in some cases succumb to small amounts of dust or debris, which impede normal switch behavior and cause keystrokes to go unregistered. Other issues with the key design include repeating characters, unresponsive key input and "sticky" keys. The company was allegedly aware of the flaw, but continued to sell the claimed faulty MacBooks at customers' peril, plaintiffs claim.
In its motion to dismiss, Apple said it presented owners with viable options to remedy the problem, including a variety of at-home troubleshooting methods and a repair program initiated in 2018. Earlier this year, Apple extended program eligibility to include 2018 MacBook Pro models
"The Program is an appropriate remedy under the CLRA because Plaintiffs can have their keyboards fixed free of charge and/or receive a refund for repair expenses if Plaintiffs paid to have their keyboards repaired," Apple argued.
Plaintiffs, however, note the voluntary program is ineffective because it fails to address the core issue. Further, faulty keyboards are replaced with parts bearing an identical design, leaving the door open for failure. Apple also does not compensate owners for out-of-pocket expenses during the repair process.
Reuters reported on the order earlier today.
Apple appears to be moving away from butterfly switches, as the company's latest 16-inch MacBook Pro ditches the slim profile keys in favor of a more traditional scissor type design. Whether the kerfuffle over butterfly keys prompted the shift is unclear.
Plaintiffs in the case seek damages, legal fees and demand Apple publicly disclose the keyboard design as flawed. In addition to damages, the suit calls on Apple to fix or replace defective units, with the latter demand covering reimbursement for the purchase of replacement laptops.
Order Denying Motion to Dismiss Butterfly Keyboard Suit by Mikey Campbell on Scribd
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Comments
Stop eating over your keyboards, people! Even my 2013 MacBook Air scissor keyboard doesn't handle crumbs well! I recently learned how to pry the keys off (very easy!) and it was amazing what was under them. No, I'm not pristine and perfectly clean in my daily computing. 16 hours a day hacking away at the keyboard sometimes involves eating at some point.
sadly i feel it will show that the company was well aware and did continue to sell and promote; however i doubt it will show the overall design to be defective, rather not ideal for real world usage.
I'm not trying to be spiteful, but there must be some kind of flaw in AI's methodology.
Basecamp dev team: 30% failure rate. https://m.signalvnoise.com/the-macbook-keyboard-fiasco-is-surely-worse-than-apple-thinks/
(incidentally: not a hater! it's my favorite laptop keyboard ever, I'm not looking forward to switching to the 16" at all.)
Even if users are back on the hook for repair costs given that the replacement program won't apply to "Magic Keyboards," the cost of repair will be back down to reasonable levels in nearly all cases. Apple won't have to keep manufacturing so many outdated parts for years after the machines have been discontinued, either. That's a win for everyone.
As for the debris issue, keyboards are exposed to the environment. I had a 2011 MBA until the screen died 6 months ago, a 2017 MBP and a iPad Pro with a Logitech keyboard. I just 8 years I had exactly 0 problems with the MBA keyboard. In 3 ½ years I’ve had exactly 0 problems with the Logitech ipad keyboard. Since I got my new MBP I’ve had multiple problems with debris, despite the fact that I baby the keyboard like no other. I routinely eat/ate and got crumbs on the MBA/iPad keyboards. I never eat around my MBP but simply using it on the kitchen table where there tend to be crumbs is enough to cause problems. I’ll also state that we have 5 iMacs at work that routinely have people eating around them and have never had any issues with any of those keyboard.
The truth is the butterfly keyboard is exceptionally sensitive to debris and performs markedly worse than any other keyboard I’ve used despite being treated better. You can argue that it’s the users’ fault, when it has fails in conditions that other keyboards have no trouble with it’s a sign that it’s poorly designed and not suitable for its intended use.
The fact that Apple has extended the warranty may make it difficult for the plaintiffs in this case since they can’t show direct financial harm.
Apple, please keep guessing on what I will unknowingly love someday!
I AM concerned in this post Jobs/Ive era.
15" also has the overheating lines on the display as well. Never had this many problems with a Mac, owner since iBook G4
I’m not certain it’s worth a class action though, because Apple decided to extend the keyboard warranty year(s) ago.
Apple replacing the keyboards doesn’t really fix the design issue, but there’s nothing really Apple can do. It’s not like they could replace the butterfly with a scissor mechanism on the old models... for a car (etc) you have more options, but there’s no free clearance on a modern laptop.
I don’t think Apple was aware of the problem before them models were released, and they did somewhat fix the problem in later releases. I’m not seeing grounds for a class action...
As someone who likes the butterfly keyboard just fine, I *am* having problems with it in my year old 2018 MBP. A *few* times in the past I noticed a double A or more recently a double-delete, which is a bigger issue as I noticed that I'd occasionally delete two emails instead of one. I just pulled a long week of video work and when sending off the project one night, trying to compose an email was nearly impossible with the double-a's, spaces, deletes, and I think one other letter. Thinking perhaps it was exacerbated by the heat from rendering, but not sure. Right now it's fine. I fully intend to get it replaced with the 2019 keyboard which hopefully has fixed these reliability issues, in which case I'll be fine with it again. <-- just got a double a typing that just now.
We'll never know the actual numbers. I think Apple has done the best they can here so far, and hopefully they'll extend the keyboard replacement program for as long as possible as people start reaching their four year limit — similar to the dGPU logic board replacement program where I think I got my last replacement at the end of 2017, I think, for a 2011 Mac.