The Verge reports that a judge has certified a 2018 seven-state class action lawsuit against Apple over its defective butterfly-switch keyboard design. Apple introduced the butterfly keyboards in 2015, revised them several times, and ultimately abandoned them in 2020. Throughout all the revisions, the butterfly keyboards were exceptionally sensitive to dust and debris, with keys frequently jamming, being ignored, or becoming “sticky.”
The most interesting bit is an email cited in support of the suit. In it, an unnamed Apple executive says in reference to the butterfly keyboard, “no matter how much lipstick you try to put on this pig… it’s still ugly.” It’s too bad that Apple couldn’t bring itself to axe the butterfly keyboard quickly rather than attempting years of futile fixes to a design that was both widely reviled and fatally flawed. Looks like that butterfly has come home to roost.
