Apple ended a rough week by announcing that a fault in some MacBook Pro laptops have a faulty component that “may fail causing the built-in battery to expand.” It is not a safety issue, the company added.
A “limited number” of 13-inch MacBook Pro models (without a Touch Bar) built between October 2016 and October 2017 are affected. Apple will offer replacement batteries free of charge; service may take between three and five days, the company said.
A page on Apple’s website will check a laptop’s serial number to see if it is among those affected, with instructions about the return process if it is.
The MacBook Pro battery issue is unlikely to generate as much trouble for the tech giant as at the end of last year, when it admitted that software in older iPhone models deliberately throttled performance as the devices’ batteries aged, ostensibly to keep them working longer. The uproar led the company to cut the cost of battery replacements and roll out software updates that give users more control over battery and performance settings.
A steep, two-day slide in Apple’s share price at the end of the week pushed it into negative territory for the year, on signs of lackluster iPhone X sales. The company reports its latest quarterly earnings on May 1, with investors and analysts sure to scour the firm’s statements for signs that it may be losing its touch.