It's about time: Apple is finally fixing its problems with the butterfly keyboard on its laptops for good. Not with a rubber membrane --- not with free repairs. No, it is finally doing away with the mechanism altogether and going back to scissor switches.
MacRumors notes that Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that starting with the 16-inch MacBook Pro to release this September, Apple will phase out the butterfly switch from all laptop keyboards. This year's 13 and 15-inch Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Air will still have the troublesome mechanisms, but by 2020 all models will have scissor mechanisms.
The switches are a slightly different design from Apple's previous scissors. Glass fibers reinforce the new mechanisms for extra strength and have slightly more travel. They are also reportedly cheaper to make. All-in-all the upcoming keyboards should be more comfortable and durable.
Earlier this month Kuo had forecast that it would be this year's MacBook Air that got the new keyboard with the rest to follow in 2020. It seems that it will be the 2019 16-inch Pro instead.
Users should be happy with this news. Apple faced a lot of criticism over the problem-prone keyboards for well over a year culminating in three class-action lawsuit. As long as there are no inherent problems with the new scissor design, the outcry should die down as the newer models filter into the market.