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Is It Time For Apple To Acknowledge Flexgate? (macobserver.com)

In January 2019, iFixit revealed a design flaw where the ribbon cable that connects the body of some MacBook Pros to their display wears down too quickly, causing uneven backlighting at the bottom of the display. There now appears to be growing frustration among users at Apple's reaction. Vlad Savov from The Verge said it is time for the company to acknowledge and deal with the issue: A petition, now numbering more than 15,000, would beg to differ. It calls for Apple to publicly recognize Flexgate as a design flaw, and to commit to repair all MacBook Pro laptops affected by it. I think that's exactly what Apple should do, and it's no less than we should expect from a company that touts its reliability and user satisfaction numbers any chance it gets. No one should have to pay upwards of $500 to replace an entire display just because Apple (a) decided to affix a fragile cable to one of the most expensive components in its MacBook Pro, and (b) miscalculated the necessary length of that cable in its first design.

2 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. No. They got at least another two years. by Black+Diamond · · Score: 5, Interesting

    By then they'll have gotten enough people to pay for the repair or buy new laptops to replace the broken ones. Then they'll acknowledge the flaw and offer a cheap repair for the other suckers they couldn't fleece.

  2. Re:No. They got at least another two years. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    By then they'll have gotten enough people to pay for the repair or buy new laptops to replace the broken ones.

    This happened to me. My 2017 MacBook had the exact problem described in TFA.

    I sent it in to be repaired in January of this year. There were a few other issues that were fixed at the same time: Sticky keys, and one USB-C port didn't work.

    My repair bill was $800.