The Butterfly Keyboard class action lawsuit is about to settle, and Apple plans to pay $50 million to settle.
CTOnews.com, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) the Butterfly Keyboard class action lawsuit is finally coming to the ground after a long period of sawing. Citing foreign technology media Law360, Apple plans to pay a settlement of $50 million, and the motion has been initially approved by a federal judge in California.
CTOnews.com learned that of the $50 million settlement, $13.6 million will be spent on lawyers, $2 million on legal fees, and $1.4 million on settlement management fees for users, and the rest will be allocated to members participating in class lawsuits.
The case, which dates back to 2018, involved customers in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Washington, who complained that Apple was aware of problems with the keyboard mechanisms used on MacBook Pro machines between 2015 and 2019. The lawsuit alleges that Apple concealed the defect from consumers in order to continue to sell the devices.
Apple introduced the butterfly keyboard on MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro devices in 2015 and 2016, claiming that the keyboard provides excellent keypad feel and stability while allowing thinner designs. Soon after the launch of the butterfly keyboards, customers found them prone to failure.
Thousands of users experience repeated keystrokes, and dust and other particles enter the butterfly mechanism, causing keystrokes to fail. These complaints led to a great deal of controversy over butterfly technology, and Apple finally launched a keyboard maintenance program in June 2018.
The maintenance plan only covers the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models for four years, and Apple only replaces the butterfly keyboard with another butterfly keyboard, so some customers have repeated failures and are no longer covered. The lawsuit alleges that Apple's maintenance plan is not enough for this reason.
Apple tried to iterate over the butterfly mechanism to make it more durable, but it didn't solve the problem after three generations. Apple had to replace the butterfly keyboard with a more reliable scissors switch keyboard, and the company phased out the last butterfly keyboard in 2020. Now all Mac use scissors switch mechanism, will not encounter the same problem.
