Apple apologises to MacBook owners amid ongoing outcry about broken keyboards

Problem causes individual keys to stop working, keeping people from typing

Apple CEO Tim Cook presents new products, including new Macbook laptops, during a special event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple has apologised over its MacBook's broken keyboards, and asked that anyone affected get in touch with the company's customer service team.

Controversy has raged for years over Apple's latest keyboards, now found across its laptops, which use a mechanism that was first introduced along with the new laptops in 2016.

Users complain that the "butterfly" mechanism found in those computers is prone to breaking, meaning that keys will simply stop working and their users will no longer be able to type.

The problem has continued all through the later generations of keyboards, despite suggestions that new technologies found in the newer ones should be able to keep them from breaking.

Now Apple has said sorry for the problems and advised anyone experiencing them to get in touch with its customer service agents.

“We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry," an Apple spokesperson said. "The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard. If you have a problem, contact Apple customer service.”

According to people affected by the problems, the keyboards can sometimes be fixed by tipping them up and blowing into them with compressed air. That can dislodge anything that has got stuck in the key and is stopping it from working.

Apple first introduced the new keyboard with new designs of the laptops, apparently as part of a move to slim down the new laptops. But in so doing they seemed to rely on mechanisms that were easier to break than the previous, taller keys – and customers have been complaining that they are breaking ever since.