In 2022, Apple agreed to pay a $50 million dollar settlement for certain eligible 2015-2019 MacBook owners who experienced problems with their butterfly keyboards. The claims process opened in late 2022, and the settlement got final approval last May. Starting today, eligible MacBook owners are finally receiving their payouts.
The troublesome keyboard
Apple introduced the butterfly keyboard in 2015 on the brand new 12-inch MacBook, and later expanded it to the MacBook Pro in 2016 and MacBook Air in 2018. The keyboard design, however, proved to be problematic and suffered from reliability and durability concerns. Some of the problems include sticky keys, duplicate characters, or complete inability to type certain characters.
Apple finally moved away from the butterfly keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro in late 2019. By mid 2020, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air also moved to the new Magic Keyboard. However, that wouldn’t be the end of the story for Apple.
Class Action Lawsuit
Discussions around a class action lawsuit started in May of 2018, with users stating that the butterfly keyboard was “inoperable and unsuitable for its ordinary and intended use.” Progress continued to be made throughout 2019, with the judge requiring Apple to face the class action. In mid 2022, Apple was required to pay a $50 million settlement. The claims process started later that year, although there were some caveats.
For one, you could only claim this settlement if you lived in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, or Washington. This excludes 43 US states, so a good number of people with butterfly keyboards weren’t even covered. Additionally, the estimated payout amount varied depending on the severity of your keyboard problems:
- Up to $395 for 2 or more top case replacements
- Up to $125 for 1 top case replacement
- Up to $50 for keycap replacements
Obviously, this wasn’t the most ideal outcome for customers, but if you were eligible and filed a claim (or multiple), you’re in luck!
Customers finally receiving payouts
On June 27th, the court issued a payment order, and the official website was updated to state that payments would begin in August 2024. Even though it’s only the third day of the month, payments are already being issued for eligible customers.
Personally, I received two $395 checks in the mail today from the keyboard settlement, and I suspect we’ll see other people start to receive payouts as mail gets delivered across the country today. Right now, there are no signs of payouts for people who requested to get their settlement digitally, although I’d imagine we’ll see that happen sometime this week.
For those who have received their payments, enjoy it! It’ll definitely help you pay for an upgrade if you’re still rocking your butterfly keyboard MacBook.
Were you able to submit a claim for the butterfly keyboard MacBook settlement? If so, have you gotten your payment? Let us know in the comments.
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