The problem.
TL;DR : MacBook Pro LCD fails after warranty period because of bad hardware design. It should be fixed by Apple for free. Please, sign this petition .
Everyday that you use your laptop, you open and close the lid each time you need it. Modern laptops are designed for a fairly large occurrences of openings and closures. The new MacBooks Pro are an exception to this rule.
Using the MacBook Pro 2016 and later under normal conditions over time, your laptop may start to show following symptoms:
- Stage light effect appears at the bottom of the screen when you set at a high brightness level.
- Backlight shutdown comes after opening the lid for above at a certain degree.
Stage light effect and backlight shutdown illustrated in the video
Both of them are caused by a fractured display flex cable due to fatigue. Without any doubt, this is an Apple’s serious hardware design flaw.
Most of the laptops started to suffer this issue after the 1-year warranty period! And the number of reports increases every day!
There is no way to replace this cable apart as it soldered to the LCD. Apple forces unlucky owners to pay $600+ for a whole LCD replacement!
The solution.
Apple must launch an extended warranty program addressing this issue as soon as possible and replace affected displays for free. Also, the people who already repaired their laptops for fee, should receive a refund too.
What I should do?
We kindly ask you to do the following simple steps:
- Sign this petition on change.org website which is addressed directly to Apple.
- Share this page wherever possible to reach more affected Mac users.
- Publish your cases in the social networks using hashtag #flexgate .
- If your laptop has failed, visit an Apple Store so they can record and count each such cases.
- Sign up to our website to keep informed about this and future Apple’s devices issues.
We hope to reach Apple and expect them to launch the extended warranty program as soon as possible.
Affected devices:
- MacBook Pro (13-Âinch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-Âinch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13-Âinch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (13Â-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
- MacBook Pro (15-Âinch, 2016)
- MacBook Pro (15-Âinch, 2017)
Update 06/03/2019:
Folks from iFixit recently discovered that Apple may have fixed the #flexgate issue in MacBook Pros 2018 by extending the backlight cable. This suggests that Apple is aware of the problem but still will not admit it.
Some people have reported that they were able to repair their laptops at the Apple Store for free, so it may be worthwhile to try that if your laptop has already failed.
We have almost reached our goal. Apple cannot ignore this issue any longer, so we are expecting Apple to launch an extended warranty program soon.
Update 21/05/2019:
Apple eventually recognized the problem and launched a screen replacement program, so you can repair your laptop affected to #flexgate problem for free or get a refund for such repairs.
However, the program covers only 2016 13-inch models.
According to user reports, the models of 2017 and 15-inch models are also subject to the problem, so for now we are not closing the petition.
Related links
- Stage Light Effect on Display Screen
- Screen issues, Back light dims & goes out
- Black shadows from the bottom of the screen
- How do I replace the inverter for my Touch Bar MacBook Pro(2016)?
- New MacBook Pro 13” screen goes black when opened past vertical
- Macbook late 2016 Touchbar lcd backlight issue.
- MacBook Pro 2016 13" with “stage light” screen effect - what to do?
- Macbook Pro 13" A1706 A1708 2016-2017 LCD stage light goes black after tilting beyond certain angle
- MacBook Pro 2017 - Retina display issue
- MacBook Pro Retina 2016 2017: Display switches off when opened more than 45 degrees
- 2016 MacBook Pro Backlight Failure
- Macbook Pro backlight problem
- MacBook Pro 2016 error
- Verdict on the 2016 and 2017 Macbook Pro – Apple’s Shiny New Toy Crippled By Serious Flaws
- Backlight problem at 90Âş LCD opening