Apple could launch the 16-inch MacBook Pro with scissor switch keyboard by the end of the year

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently confirmed that Apple will abandon the current butterfly keyboard and replace it with a scissor switch keyboard in the upcoming MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. According to his report, the MacBook Air would be launched later this year and the MacBook Pro will be launched in early 2020. However, a new report by the same analyst now suggests that Apple could launch the MacBook Pro this year as well.

According to a MacRumors report, analyst Min Chi Kuo has revised his prediction and believes that Apple will replace the butterfly keyboard and the first product that will feature this new keyboard with scissor switch will be the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which will launch in the fourth quarter of 2019. Essentially, we could see this keyboard at any time in the coming months.

According to the report, Kuo believes that after the launch of MacBook Pro, the new and upcoming line of MacBook 2020 will also feature a scissor switch keyboard. This means that this could be the end of the problem prone butterfly keyboard.

"We have revised our prediction that the 16-inch MacBook Pro keyboard that will be released in 4Q19 will feature the scissor mechanism instead of the butterfly mechanism. The upgrade versions of other MacBook models in 2020 will change to adopt the scissor mechanism keyboard, too. We estimate that shipments of MacBook models that choose scissor mechanism keyboards will reach 400k, 10mn and 16mnunits, respectively, "says Kuo.

Users may not realize a big difference between the scissor switch and the butterfly keyboard, however, in the long run, the new keyboard will offer a better user experience. Introduced in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook, the Apple Butterfly switch keyboard was meant to offer a great typing experience while maintaining an ultra-thin profile. The holy grail, so to speak, of the laptop keyboard. It was far from that ideal. The keyboard design was comically sensitive to dust, even the slightest particle caused the keys to get stuck.