Apple Says 'Sorry' for MacBook Butterfly Keyboard Problems Affecting 'Small Number of Users'

While Apple MacBooks have tons of features to compete against all the premium Windows notebooks, the butterfly-design keyboards of the Mac machines are infamous for various typing problems. Apple has now acknowledged that despite making updates, some users are still facing issues with the third-generation butterfly keyboards that come with all the recent MacBook models. Notably, the Cupertino giant last year rolled out a keyboard service programme specifically to fix "sticky key" issues on MacBooks. The company also opted for a thin, silicone covering that was believed to resolve typing problems on MacBooks to some extent by blocking the ingress of dust thought to be the cause of issues.

In response to a well-articulated piece by Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal, specifically highlighting the problems with the butterfly keyboards of MacBooks, an Apple spokesman said that the company was aware that a "small number of users" were having issues with the third-generation butterfly keyboard. The spokesman also mentioned that the company was "sorry" for the problems being faced by the users.

"The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard," he added, as quoted by the publication.

Notably, Apple didn't reveal the number of customers who are facing problems on the third-generation keyboards. The number of customers how are unhappy with their MacBook keyboards isn't insignificant however, as with previous generations of the notorious butterfly-switch design, the company had even faced a lawsuit last year. It also rolled out a programme to fix affected keyboards for free.

"Some people with these new third-generation keyboards have asked to join the suit, says Simon Grille, an attorney at Girard Sharp, one of the law firms involved in the suit," the report added, further cementing user reports of the problems not having been resolved by the new design.

Apple in 2018 started adding a thin, silicone covering on top of its third-generation butterfly architecture. The change was believed to resolve the sticky key issues that mainly emerge once small debris loges into keys. However, the "silicone barrier" and some other changes in the keyboard design mainly made the keyboards quieter than ever before.

The story by The Wall Street Journal mentions that as repairing experts from iFixit and Simple Mac consider, the butterfly keyboard system that is touted to offer 40 percent thinner appearance than the traditional scissor design can be jammed even when "something as small as a grain of sand" gets in. This is supposedly the reason why a large number of customers are demanding Apple find an appropriate alternative to its keyboard design.

If you're among the affected users, the only way to resolve your problem so far is to contact Apple support. Having said that, a patent application that had surfaced last year suggested that Apple could upgrade the keyboard experience "to prevent ingress of liquid and debris" by adding new protection.