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Apple might not release a MacBook Pro with an improved keyboard design until next year

Published Oct 30th, 2019 12:30PM EDT
MacBook Pro
Image: Apple Inc.

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If you’ve been patiently waiting for Apple to fix the butterfly keyboard design it introduced a few years back, you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer. While we saw a few reports pointing towards Apple introducing a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a more reliable scissor-style keyboard design sometime this month, a new research note from Ming-Chi Kui (via MacRumors) relays that we won’t see a new keyboard design until 2020.

Kuo doesn’t specify which MacBook model will be the first to re-introduce the scissor switch keyboard, but it’s long been assumed that it would be rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro. Either way, it stands to reason that the entirety of Apple’s notebook line will eventually transition over to the scissor switch keyboard next year.

As far as a launch window is concerned, Kuo says that the first MacBook model with the new keyboard design will be introduced sometime during the end of the second quarter or during the early part of the third. That being the case, it’s perhaps possible that Apple will introduce a range of new MacBook models at WWDC in June of next year.

While a refresh of all existing MacBook models will be welcome, Apple’s rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro is easily the most intriguing of them all. Based on previous reports we’ve seen, the rumored notebook will ship with a 3072×1920 display and a 96W USB-C charger. What’s more, the notebook will reportedly feature noticeably thinner bezels, which is to say that users will be able to enjoy more screen real estate without a drastically larger form factor.

On the pricing front, early rumors suggest that Apple’s flagship MacBook Pro could cost as much as $2900.

While it’s somewhat of a bummer to learn that we’re not going to see a MacBook with a new keyboard design anytime soon, the good news is that Apple has seemingly learned the error of its ways and will presumably say goodbye to the much-maligned butterfly keyboard design it excitedly unveiled about three years ago.

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.