With the latest MacBook Pro, Apple seem to have taken steps to address their Flexgate problem, without ever owning up to their potential role in the scandal.
Remember Flexgate? Back in 2018, many MacBook Pro users found a serious design flaw that would cause screens to fail after you opened and closed them a bunch. It seems the design of the flex display cables was to blame, as they were too short and too thin. The problem was discovered in models all the way from 2016. If you have a touch bar on your Mac, there’s a decent chance you’ve got the same frail flex cable connecting your display to the display controller board.
Repair can be a pain in the butt too. The cable is part of the screen and so to replace the screen you’ll need to pay a few hundred to get it fixed when it frays.
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Supposedly new model MacBook Pros now have a longer cable that should stop this sort of problem from happening again in the future. IFixIt, while writing their repair manual for the 2018 model MacBook Pro, discovered that their 2018 cable was 2mm longer, after a post on the MacRumors user Olivia88 who had noticed the same problem with their own cable.
“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.” said the post on IFixIt.
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I’s not yet certain whether this extra 2mm of space will solve the problem completely or just delay the inevitable a little longer. This is backed up by a lot of the thinking on IFixIt’s post about the issue, which is worth looking at.
The most shocking part about all of this is that if Apple has taken steps to change their 2018 model, they had to have been aware of the Flexgate issue before it became, you know, flexgate. That’s very naughty, especially when you consider that Apple has still refused to take ownership of the situation or offer an extended warranty for devices affected.
Do you have a Macbook Pro from 2016? Encountering problems with your flex cable? Let us know, we’re here for you. We’re on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
