Apple has agreed to pay US$50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by customers who claimed it knew and concealed that the “butterfly” keyboards on its MacBooks were prone to failure, reports Reuters.
The suit covers anyone who purchased a Mac lapotop with a butterfly keyboard in seven states: California, New York, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, and Michigan. That includes people who bought a MacBook model dating between 2015 and 2017, a MacBook Pro model between 2016 and 2019, or a MacBook Air between 2018 and 2019.
Judge Edward Davila certified the case with seven subclasses on March 8th in California, but the order remained sealed until late last week. It raises the stakes for a suit that was first filed in 2018.
In December 2019, Davila ruled that Apple must face claims that its troubleshooting program did not provide an “effective fix” for MacBook design defects, or fully compensate customers for their out-of-pocket expenses while seeking repairs.
The lawsuit claims that “thousands” of MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have experienced some type of failure with Apple’s butterfly keyboard, thus rendering the machine useless. The suits claim the design is such that small amounts of dust or debris impede normal switch behavior, causing keystrokes to go unregistered.
Apple debuted its “butterfly” keyswitch design in the 12-inch MacBook before incorporating an improved second-generation version in 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pros.
