Apple faces potential class-action lawsuit over cracking M1 MacBook screens

[midian182]

In brief: Apple's latest M1-powered MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro laptops have been subject to a deluge of praise from reviewers and consumers alike, but it seems some units are not without their problems. A law firm is looking into claims from several owners who reported unexplained cracks in their notebooks' screens, suggesting a class-action suit could soon arrive.

Washington, DC-based Migliaccio & Rathod LLP, which investigated the Surface Pro 4's screen flickering issues three years ago, is now repeating its actions from that case by asking M1 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air owners to fill in a questionnaire. The lawyers never went through with their class action against Microsoft after the Windows maker announced a replacement program.

The move follows reports from several users that claim they opened their MacBooks and discovered cracks on the screens that couldn't be explained. This Redditor says the LCD on their 13-inch M1 MacBook cracked inexplicably just a week after purchasing it.

Cracked screen? It's a feature, not a fault

"Many users allege that they have opened their devices from the closed position without applying any undue pressure," said the law firm, "only to find dramatic cracks in the retina display, often accompanied by black bars running across the screen. Others report that the crack followed a simple adjustment of the screen's viewing angle."

"In none of these cases would a reasonable consumer expect such activity to damage their device, let alone cause a screen crack that impairs its functionality. Unfortunately, Apple's customer service has not been receptive to these grievances."

The company says that users were left with little choice but to spend upwards of $600 on screen repairs and with no guarantee that the damage won't occur again in the future.

Apple, of course, is no stranger to class-action lawsuits. One of the largest it faced was over the iPhone throttling case for which it handed over $500 million. It's also dealt with class actions over faulty Apple Watch screens, the App Store, and several relating to the butterfly keyboards, to name a few. But with a market cap of $2.55 trillion, the world’s biggest company has little to worry about in these cases.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/91185-apple-faces-potential-class-action-lawsuit-over-cracking.html

 

[Puiu]

The problem is that the tolerances are sometimes way too tight to get that form factor.

 

[Nobina]

Apple, of course, is no stranger to class-action lawsuits. One of the largest it faced was over the iPhone throttling case for which it handed over $500 million.

I remember this case and how people defended Apple saying throttling was done in good faith to extend battery life, while ofcourse, hiding it from the user until someone eventually found out.

Can't believe how many people consider Apple as the premium brand while almost every generation of their laptops has some sort of design issues, recently keyboards, now this.

 

[fraggleki]

I remember this case and how people defended Apple saying throttling was done in good faith to extend battery life, while ofcourse, hiding it from the user until someone eventually found out.

Can't believe how many people consider Apple as the premium brand while almost every generation of their laptops has some sort of design issues, recently keyboards, now this.

Plenty of other premium laptops have issues but we just never hear about them. Apple is just put in the spotlight because MacBook is one of the top selling consumer laptops. If this happen to a Dell or HP laptop there probably wouldn't be 1000 articles about it and a lawsuit. I'm a PC person myself but you cant deny the premium feel of a MacBook. If you do you're just lying to yourself. Go pick up any other laptop and tell me it feels as good as MacBook. Hint it wont.

 

[Beerfloat]

Plenty of other premium laptops have issues but we just never hear about them. Apple is just put in the spotlight because MacBook is one of the top selling consumer laptops. If this happen to a Dell or HP laptop there probably wouldn't be 1000 articles about it and a lawsuit. I'm a PC person myself but you cant deny the premium feel of a MacBook. If you do you're just lying to yourself. Go pick up any other laptop and tell me it feels as good as MacBook. Hint it wont.

Agreed about the fact that Apple's design issues mostly make the news because of their sheer size.

But you're going seriously overboard by claiming there are no other manufacturers that do premium feel as well as Apple.

 

[fraggleki]

Agreed about the fact that Apple's design issues mostly make the news because of their sheer size.

But you're going seriously overboard by claiming there are no other manufacturers that do premium feel as well as Apple.

I've played with a few Dell XPS that were very close to the quality of a Macbook but other than that most manufactures feel like a plastic mess. The amount of keyboard/chassis flex on most other premium brands is insane. Macbooks just feel like a solid chunk of metal.

 

[Beerfloat]

I've played with a few Dell XPS that were very close to the quality of a Macbook but other than that most manufactures feel like a plastic mess. The amount of keyboard/chassis flex on most other premium brands is insane. Macbooks just feel like a solid chunk of metal.

You're not wrong, but like those Dell XPS models there are some Thinkpads, Microsoft's Surface, Razer Blades and a couple of others that do expensive and solid pretty well.

 

[m4a4]

Plenty of other premium laptops have issues but we just never hear about them. Apple is just put in the spotlight because MacBook is one of the top selling consumer laptops. If this happen to a Dell or HP laptop there probably wouldn't be 1000 articles about it and a lawsuit. I'm a PC person myself but you cant deny the premium feel of a MacBook. If you do you're just lying to yourself. Go pick up any other laptop and tell me it feels as good as MacBook. Hint it wont.

Naw, they're in the spotlight because of their "we make no mistakes" PR and their "we're perfect" attitude. Of which a lot of their fans like to echo...

Truth of the matter is, on the surface level, they can make something that looks premium. But under the surface they have a lot more bad decisions than they should and they try to hide them. Which just makes people want to shine a light on them.

 

[DukeJukem]

Good