Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A US judge has finally approved a $50 million settlement for owners of defective MacBooks.
- Apple used an unreliable butterfly keyboard design for many laptops between 2015 and 2019.
Apple‘s butterfly keyboard design has to be one of the biggest tech fails in the last few decades. The revised keyboard design for MacBooks, first introduced in 2015, proved to be horribly unreliable and prone to breaking. Now, a US judge has finally cleared the way for Apple to settle with customers.
Reuters reports that a US judge approved Apple’s $50 million settlement with customers. Affected users will receive fees of between $50 and $395 from the Cupertino company. The court also rejected two key challenges to the settlement.
Two hurdles cleared for the settlement
One group of affected customers was awarded $125 per person, but this group unsuccessfully challenged the fee as they noted that keyboard repair fees could cost more than $300.
The court also rejected a challenge from MacBook owners who had keyboard failures but didn’t get them fixed.
Did you have a MacBook with a butterfly keyboard design?
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The judge noted that “while not all who were purportedly injured will receive compensation, the settlement compromise benefits a significant number of individuals.” In other words, the court felt that the settlement covered enough affected customers.
Either way, it sounds like US MacBook owners who were forced to get their butterfly keyboards fixed will be getting some cash soon. This shouldn’t be a problem for owners of more recent Apple laptops though, as the company switched to a more conventional and reliable scissor-switch keyboard design from late 2019.
