Apple will pay $50 million to MacBook buyers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington to settle a 2018 class-action lawsuit involving faulty butterfly keyboards that were used in MacBook machines between 2015 and 2019, reports Reuters.
The class-action lawsuit claimed that Apple knew about the faulty butterfly mechanism and concealed it while continuing to sell computers with the keyboard.
Apple manufactured MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook models with butterfly keyboards in 2015 and 2016. Apple promoted the thinness of the keyboard and the superior key feel and stability. Not too long after the keyboards launched, customers learned that they failed easily.
Customers experienced issues with keys repeating, sticking, and otherwise failing when dust and other particulates got into the butterfly mechanism, resulting in a huge outcry from buyers.
While Apple launched a keyboard repair program in June 2018, the program only covered MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models for four years. The lawsuit alleged that Apple’s repair program was not sufficient, as Apple would replace the butterfly keyboards with another butterfly keyboard, so some customers experienced repeated failures that are no longer covered.
Apple eventually made three generations of the butterfly keyboard, none of which proved to be less troublesome. All Mac models now available now use the more reliable scissor-switch keyboard mechanism.
Customers in the above-mentioned states are expected to receive maximum payouts of $395 to customers who replaced multiple keyboards, $125 to people who replaced one keyboard, and $50 to people who replaced keycaps. The settlement will need to be approved by the judge overseeing the case.