Apple pays $50 million to owners of MacBooks with faulty butterfly keyboards
After several years of lawsuits, Apple finally agreed to pay $50 million to settle a class action suit that the company knew about flaws in the butterfly keyboard switches built into several MacBook models.
Apple concluded today a $50 million settlement in a class action lawsuit over its butterfly keyboards, which were infamous for breaking and becoming unresponsive. These issues prompted a group of thousands of consumers in seven US states to file a lawsuit alleging that Apple knew the keyboards were susceptible to failure. At the time, Apple was offering free replacements, but the problem grew to a scale rarely seen in the market.
Apple had however relied heavily on its butterfly mechanism, which promised a 34% thinner keyboard than other laptopsa system 40% thinner than traditional scissor mechanism and four times more stable keys. Apple finally ditched its butterfly keyboard with the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, which marked the return of a scissor-based Magic Keyboard.
MacBook users with faulty butterfly keyboards will get money
To close the case, Apple now plans to reimburse affected homeowners $300 to $395 if they paid Apple or its authorized service providers for two or more keyboard replacements within a four-year period after purchasing their MacBook. The settlement covers customers who purchased certain models of MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro from 2015 to 2019.
Users who had to replace a single keyboard can receive up to $125, and users who replaced a single key can receive up to $50. Finally, good news for the users still concerned, they can benefit from free keyboard repairs for the next four years.
Unfortunately, French consumers who had to replace their butterfly keyboard will not be able to benefit from these refunds, since only US customers who participated in the class action are eligible. Seeing Apple reimburse its customers is good news, but we can still question its amount. Some consumers who were out of warranty were able to pay up to $475 for the repair, much less than the proposed $395 maximum.
Source: Courtlistener
