Apple is reportedly getting rid of its butterfly keyboard from its later MacBook models, opting for a new design using scissor switches instead.
The company's butterfly mechanism has been plagued with issues ever since it debuted back in 2015, and now it seems it's "solving" the problems surrounding the keyboard by scrapping it.
Buh-Bye Butterfly Keyboards?
As reported by Mac Rumors, well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the Cupertino brand will use a scissor-switch keyboard design for its future MacBook models, starting with a 2019 refresh of the MacBook Air expected to launch sometime this year.
The new keyboard is said to be more durable, thanks to its glass fiber reinforcement. It's also going to offer longer key travel, which may provide a better typing experience overall.
Kuo mentions that the butterfly keyboard is slimmer than the new scissor keyboard, but he thinks that "most users can't tell the difference."
While the 2019 MacBook Air is expected to sport the new keyboard design, the MacBook Pro models of the same year may not adopt it, particularly the rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is said to be unveiled in September. However, MacBook Pro units released in 2020 are predicted to come with it.
According to Kuo, the scissor keyboard may not only offer an improved user experience, but it may also be beneficial to Apple in terms of profits. He says that the butterfly keyboard will be discontinued mainly because of those reasons.
Butterfly Keyboard Issues
The butterfly keyboard has been controversial ever since it was introduced, as it was prone to problems such as repeated and skipped key presses. These soon became so widespread that the company had to roll out a worldwide repair program in 2018 and launch one iteration after another.
Apple launched its fourth-generation butterfly keyboard with its new 2019 MacBook Pro lineup, which is touted to, at the very least, reduce the instances of the aforementioned issues. Soon after, iFixit got a hold of the notebook and dug deeper, finding only subtle changes to the keyboard's build and giving it a repairability score of 1 out of 10.
