Judge Edward Davila has ruled that Apple kept selling the 2016 MacBook Pro despite knowing that the units’ displays would fail, exhibiting the infamous ‘stage light’ issue due to the flex cables tethering the display to the notebook’s lower half being prone to damage and not long enough — reports The Verge.
“The court finds that the allegations of pre-release testing in combination with the allegations of substantial customer complaints are sufficient to show that Apple had exclusive knowledge of the alleged defect”, wrote Judge Davila in an order.
This means that the “flexgate” lawsuit against Apple will move forward, and with nine different plaintiffs now a part of the complaint, Judge Davila has even invited the plaintiffs to submit an amended complaint to turn the suit into a certified class-action lawsuit.
The way Apple handled the problem once “flexgate” made its way into the media was less than admirable — the Cupertino, California-based tech giant decided to quietly swap out new, longer flex cables into newer MacBooks.
Apple also ended up opening a free repair program for affected MacBook Pro owners months after 15,000+ people signed a petition demanding that Apple address the issue.
With the “flexgate” suit now clear to proceed and potentially turning into a class-action, Apple might soon find itself faced with two class-action lawsuits over the 2016 MacBook Pro. The other suit is for Apple’s abysmal butterfly keyboards.
