“In 2018, a number of MacBook Pro users — with models from 2016 onwards — discovered a serious design flaw that causes the screen to fail after repeated opening and closing of the laptop over the course of a few years. The ensuing scandal was, of course, dubbed flexgate, after the flex display cables causing the problem,” Whitson Gordon writes for iFixit. “Despite Apple’s refusal to acknowledge the issue, though, their latest MacBook Pros have a longer cable that may be attempting to make up for previous shortcomings.”
“You can read more about flexgate in our rundown here, but in short: Apple, in an effort to make their laptops even thinner and sleeker, is using thin, fragile flex cables to connect the display to the display controller board beneath the touch bar. In this space-saving design, the thin cable wraps around the hinge. After a year or two of opening and closing the laptop, the cable will wear down, causing the display to start failing with a distinctive stage-light effect,” Gordon writes. “And since the cable is soldered onto the board, it cannot be simply swapped out—the entire screen must be replaced (a $700 part). Apple has yet to acknowledge the issue or extend their warranty to affected users.”
“However, when MacRumors user Olivia88 noticed their 2018 13” MacBook Pro seemed to have a longer cable than previous models, we were intrigued. Since we were just wrapping up writing the repair manual for the 2018 model anyway, we checked inside our 2018 15” MacBook Pro again to measure its cable against its 2016 predecessor—and found the 2018 cable was, in fact, a full 2mm longer,” Gordon writes. “Since this change appears in both our 15” model and Olivia88’s 13” model, it’s plausible this change is present in multiple, if not all, 2018 MacBook Pros. ‘This is significant because it gives the backlight cable more room to wrap around the board and not come into contact with the board as the laptop is opened past 90 degrees,’ said Taylor Dixon, teardown engineer at iFixit.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Time will tell, but hopefully Apple has fixed the issue and the company will fix issues for free for affected units!
This video explains the issue:
SEE ALSO:
Flexgate: The design flaw behind MacBook Pro’s ‘stage light’ – January 22, 2019
Louis Rossman on Macdailynews.. has this ever happened before? The sheer nature of such a combination suggests that Apple’s poor workmanship is starting to create strange bedfellows.
I use my 2018 MacBook Pro for many hours a day, but there is a monitor connected to it. Hopefully my cable will last.
Apple under Jobs: “It just works.”
Apple under Cook: “Hopefully it will work.”
The current MacBook range has some of the worst keyboards of any product Apple has ever designed. It’s clear by now that Apple did its quick and easy fix and it has no plans to offer a superior laptop that is a delight to use for people who know how to type.