Apple's new MacBook Pro keyboard could launch this year
The scissor keyboard could replace the butterfly design in the Pro as well as the Air in 2019.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
The Pro could join the Air with scissor mechanism keys this year.
Update, Nov. 13, 2019: Apple has introduced a new 16-inch MacBook Pro with a larger screen and improved keyboard. It completely replaces the previous 15-inch model.
Apple is reportedly planning to launch a scissor keyboard on its rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro later this year. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the tech giant would be replacing the unpopular butterfly keyboard in 2019 rather than 2020, according to MacRumors Thursday.
Apple had rolled out its butterfly switch design starting with its computer revamp in 2015 in an effort to make the laptops lighter and thinner. But users complained about sticky keys, as well as letters typing in duplicate or not at all.
Kuo had earlier this month said Apple wouldn't be switching to the scissor mechanism on the MacBook Pro until 2020, despite predicting in June that the company would launch a 16-inch MacBook Pro in Q4.
"The refresh versions of other MacBook models in 2020 will change to adopt the scissor mechanism keyboard, too," Kuo said in an analyst note, according to MacRumors.
The keyboard component will rise from a price of $8-$12 to $25-$30, Kuo added.
Kuo had originally predicted the scissor keyboard would come to the MacBook Air by the end of this year.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
