Ever since Apple discontinued the 17-inch MacBook Pro in 2012, many power users lamented the lack of a big display option in Apple’s notebook line. Not to fear, rumor has it that Apple later this year will introduce a 16-inch MacBook Pro with some serious hardware underneath the hood. Not surprisingly, the machine won’t come cheap, with one report relaying that it may cost upwards of $2,900 at launch.
While there’s no doubt that the forthcoming 16-inch MacBook Pro will boast some serious hardware, there’s no getting around the fact that the butterfly keyboard design on Apple’s MacBook Pro models leave a lot to be desired in regards to reliability and functionality. Indeed, Apple has continuously tweaked its keyboard design over the past few years as part of a broader effort to eliminate usability issues. Nonetheless, Apple earlier this year acknowledged that some users were still encountering issues with their “third-generation butterfly keyboard.”
For those who have been hesitant to pull the trigger on a new MacBook Pro because of a range of usability issues relating to the keyboard, there’s good news on the horizon. In a new research note obtained by MacRumors, reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo writes that Apple will be incorporating the scissor mechanism keyboard design on the forthcoming MacBook Pro model.
We have revised our prediction that the keyboard of the 16-inch MacBook Pro that will launch in 4Q19 will feature the scissor mechanism instead of the butterfly mechanism.
The scissor design should not only improve reliability, but also increase travel for each individual key, thus fixing two chief complaints users have had about the butterfly keyboard design since its inception.
Meanwhile, Kuo expects Apple to fully do away with the butterfly keyboard design across its entire MacBook Pro lineup by 2020, thus doing away with what may very well be one of Apple’s most backwards design decisions in history.
