It has been years since Apple was hit with a major class action lawsuit over the defective butterfly keyboard Apple utilized years ago. In 2020 Apple introduced the redesigned 13-inch MacBook Pro, and, with it, a return to the old, familiar keyboard design. And, despite the changes, the company still needs to face the result of that class action lawsuit. Which means paying out a lot of money.
As reported by Reuters, Apple has accepted a settlement offer that will see the company pay out $50 million due to the defective butterfly keyboard. This keyboard design was used in the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro lineups between 2015 and 2019, and the class action lawsuit was brought against Apple by customers in several different states, including California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and others.
Those customers claimed, among other things, that Apple was aware of the faulty design in the butterfly keyboard right from the start. And, despite that knowledge, Apple not only decided to put the butterfly keyboard in machines it planned to sell, but continued to sell the faulty keyboard despite complaints in even newer models.
Issues with the butterfly keyboard ranged. Some customers ran into keys that stuck and could not be used, while other keys would repeat keystrokes randomly. Other customers simply had keyboards that would not function properly at all. Apple launched a keyboard repair program in 2018, and, as mentioned above, moved away from the butterfly keyboard design in 2020.
Apple not only launched that repair program, but also made changes to the overall design of the butterfly keyboard in hopes of alleviating some of the issues. However, none of this was enough and many customers continued to run into issues.
The lawsuit covers customers in the following states:
- California
- Florida
- Illinois
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- Washington
Per the report, the lawyers working on the side of the customers expect Apple will pay out a maximum amount of $395 to customers who had multiple keyboard replacements. For the folks who replaced their keyboard once, they should get a maximum payout of up to $125. And for customers who replaced keycaps, they should get a maximum payout of $50.
Did you ever run into any issues with the butterfly keyboard?