Apple Macbook Flexgate issue published 11/11/2019 | 4 min read

If you have a new Macbook Pro with Touchbar (except for 2018 and 2019 models), your Macbook will screen will most likely fail in a year, or two due to a design flaw related to a flex cable connecting the screen to the logical board, this cable is ultra thin, and very short.

So basically as you normally open/close your computer's lid, this cable will fracture over time leading to this issue, check the video below to see how it looks like:

Apple have admitted this issue back in May 2019 but only for the 13 inch models, leaving 15 inch owners having to pay $600 to replace the entire screen, while the cable it self can only cost between $7 and $9 to replace, but the screen was designed with this cable built into it, making it impossible to replace only the screen.

I was one of those who have faced this issue, and of course due to having a 15 inch model, I have no chance for a free repair.

I heard some people in some countries like Netherlands and Brazil have managed to get a free repair from the Genius bar. Not sure how they managed to convince them.

For more information on the flexgate issue, check this dedicated website (update: website was taken down!):

Flexgate - Apple Issues (Beta)
MacBook Pro Retina 2016 and later has a critical issue with display. Let's make Apple cover it under extended warranty program! #flexgate

Also there is a petition was nearly 25,000 people signed it who are facing this issue, and Apple is basically acting like nothing is happening unfortunately.

Sign the Petition
Fix all MacBook Pro 2016 and later with stage light effect or backlight shutdown #flexgate


Here's also a video that explains the issue in details by Louis Rossman, a reputable YouTube author, working professionally in fixing MacBooks.

Worth to note that Apple have managed to "silently" replace this cable with a longer one in 2018 models -both 13 & 15 inch models- in order to fix this issue.

Finally, we all hope Apple can soon admit this issue, and launch a repair program for 15 inch models as well.



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