M1 MacBook owners complain that their screens cracked for no apparent reason

An increasing number of M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro owners say that the retina display of their Apple laptop has cracked during normal usage. Claims like these can be found on the Apple Support Forums, Reddit and Apple-centric websites like 9to5mac, which has also reported on the issue.

There are two prevailing theories on what may have caused these upsetting defects. The first one assumes that when the affected users closed their MacBooks, a small object may have been caught between the keyboard and the display and consequently put too much stress on the glass surface of the display. A second speculation revolves around the display itself, which may not be sturdy enough to withstand the pressure that is applied when the closed laptop is grabbed with one hand, or when the position of the laptop is adjusted by grabbing the edge of the screen.

While this could theoretically happen to almost any notebook, it is unclear why the increasing numbers of reports mostly relate to the newer M1 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air (from US$899 on Amazon) units, even though their basic construction is similar to that of earlier MacBook models. Due to their extremely thin and delicate design, it may be possible that Apple's laptops are simply more susceptible to this expensive type of defect. In Australia, Apple has quoted a customer AU$725 for a display replacement. The Cupertino-based company has not yet addressed the issue publicly.