14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is reportedly attempting to reduce the thickness of the backlit keyboards in its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models from 0.4mm to 0.25mm in 2013, perhaps to prevent the keyboard from leaving marks on the screen when the laptop is closed.
Sources within Apple’s supply chain indicated to DigiTimes that the current injection process for the production of light guide plates was optimized to its limit, therefore “makers utilizing extrusion processes are likely to win orders for 0.25mm light guide plates.”
The current light guide plates are made by Japan-based NJK and Taiwan-based Global Lighting Technologies, the sources said, adding that one manufacturer uses the injection process, while the other uses an extrusion process.
MacRumors cites Kyle Wiens from iFixIt as saying that the change could lead to cleaner screens, as the keyboard would no longer touch the glass when the notebook is closed.