Apple may launch 16-inch MacBook Pro with scissor-switch keyboard by year-end

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently **confirmed that Apple will be ditching the current butterfly keyboard** and replace it with a **scissor-switch keyboard** in the upcoming MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Per his report, the MacBook Air would launch by end of this year and MacBook Pro will launch in early 2020. However, a new report by the same analyst now suggests that Apple might launch the MacBook Pro this year as well. As per a report by MacRumors, analyst Min Chi Kuo has revised his prediction and believes that Apple will be replacing the butterfly keyboard and the first product that will feature this new scissor-switch keyboard will be the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which will launch in the fourth quarter of 2019. Essentially, we might see this keyboard anytime in the next few months. According to the report, Kuo believes that after the launch of MacBook Pro, the new, upcoming MacBook lineup of 2020 will also feature a scissor-switch keyboard. This means this could be the end of the problem-prone butterfly keyboard. [caption id=“attachment_5933121” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] The new MacBook Air is very pretty, but not very exciting. Image: Anirudh Regidi/tech2[/caption] “We have revised our prediction that the keyboard of the 16-inch MacBook Pro that will launch in 4Q19 will feature the scissor mechanism instead of the butterfly mechanism. The refresh 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 realise a lot of difference between the scissor-switch and the butterfly keyboard, however, in the longer run, the **new keyboard will offer a better user experience** . Introduced in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook, Apple Butterfly switch keyboard was meant to offer a great typing experience while maintaining an ultra-slim profile. The holy grail, so to speak, of the laptop keyboard. It fell far short of that ideal. The keyboard design was comically sensitive to dust, with even the slightest particle causing keys to jam.