Apple reports that it has agreed to reward unattractive customers who have been plagued by the design of keyswitches for problematic butterfly keyboards. Reuters.. Late Monday, a $ 50 million preliminary settlement was filed awaiting judge approval to indemnify customers in class proceedings in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington.
Apple announced the design of the butterfly keyboard in 2015. At the time of the announcement, it is known for its slimmer laptop design (debuted on the MacBook Air) and for greater accuracy, quietness and stability. Unfortunately, these keyboards quickly gained a reputation for being unreliable, with keys unable to register actions or becoming sticky.Specific problem (Opens in a new tab) The design was that it was susceptible to the ingress of dust and particulate matter. Apple has gone through several generations of butterfly switches, with the addition of dust membranes and more, but Apple laptop enthusiasts were relieved when the simpler and more reliable scissor switches came back in 2019.
From the history of the butterfly mechanism keyboard potted plants above, it’s not surprising that the class proceedings cover the entire period these switches were equipped on the new Mac Portable. From 2015 to 2019.
So what can I get as compensation if I buy one of the Mac laptops with a butterfly keyboard during the period in which this class action is stated to cover in the United States? The answer is that you get very little. Lawyers expect the maximum compensation for people who have replaced multiple MacBook keyboards to be $ 395. More common are people affected by a single laptop that requires a keyboard replacement, and these people will receive up to $ 125 indemnity. Finally, Mac users who swapped keys instead of the entire keyboard line up for $ 50. Obviously, the $ 50 million cake is cut into very thin slices. Conversely, lawyers working on the class proceedings could charge up to $ 15 million in fees, Reuters said.
If you are still suffering from Butterfly Keyboard Blues, we would like to express our sympathy. Eligible for 4 years of free keyboard repair.
Has justice been done? If they are lucky enough to be covered in this class action, those affected by the unreliable keyboard issue will not be impressed with the compensation over and over again with multiple exchanges. Finally, according to source reports, Apple has denied fraud as part of the settlement agreement. You must be hoping to get rid of this design flaw under the carpet. Several people in some states of the United States have received a small amount.
