Apple has finally ditched its much maligned Butterfly keyboard switches for standard scissor switches on its 16-inch MacBook Pro. An iFixit teardown confirms this, and reveals that the Magic Keyboard of the MacBook Pro is actually a familiar one.
In fact, the scissor switches on the new Apple laptop are essentially the same as those from the standalone Magic Keyboard announced back in 2015. They are so similar that you could actually swap switches between the two.
And you can actually do so more frequently than you’d imagine. There’s also a much lower risk of breaking them when you need to remove or replace them. This is thanks to reinforced clips that hold the keycaps and switches together.
Apple describes its scissor switches on the 16-inch MacBook Pro as “stable”, and having 1mm of travel. Compared to the Butterfly Switches, this means about 0.5mm more travel, and the keycaps themselves are about 0.2mm thicker.
Apple’s Butterfly switches were first introduced back in 2015, the same year the Magic Keyboard was announced. It’s unclear why Apple decided its scissor switches needed improving. And the result of that were switches that were also a frequent source of complaints by customers.
(Source: iFixit)
