Described by Apple as a “recall and replacement program”, Apple are sufficiently concerned that the risk of batteries overheating and triggering a dire is sufficient to trigger the global recall. According to Apple: “in a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units, the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk.”
The MacBook Pro is a high-end line of Macintosh portable computers introduced in January 2006 by Apple Inc. the computer is currently available in 13- and 15-inch screen sizes. The issue of concern follows on from a previous issue (flagged in April 2018) where “limited number” of 13-inch MacBook Pro units without Touch Bar, manufactured between October 2016 and October 2017, could have the built-in battery expanded, which is also known as “swelling”. This act of swelling is the issue that poses the potential fire risk.
The new issue affects certain 2015 MacBook Pro models, raising the question of why the issue with batteries identified earlier did not take into account the 2015 editions?
To assess whether a particular model is affected there is an on-line facility where customers can enter their MacBook’s serial number on an Apple support page and see if it is eligible to have the battery replaced free of charge. With the recall, Apple said the recall does not affect any other 15-inch MacBook Pro units or other Mac notebooks.
If there is an issue the time to resolve could be lengthy. The device will need to be sent to an Apple Repair Center where it will be examined by a specialist and then fixed, a process that can take up to two weeks, which is a long time for someone who uses their Mac regularly.
