Consumer Reports now recommends 2016 MacBook Pro after Apple fixed battery issues found in earlier tests via a software update
New Apple software fixes a battery issue found in CR tests. The software, now in beta, will be part of a broad update soon. — Consumer Reports …
Context & Ripple Effects
Three weeks ago Consumer Reports did something it had never done for any MacBook: refuse to recommend the 2016 MacBook Pro, citing wildly inconsistent battery results across identical machines (its first-ever MacBook non-recommendation). Apple had already shipped one stopgap — a December macOS update that removed the battery-remaining readout and fixed graphics problems (the December macOS update) — but the battery variance itself went unaddressed.
Today's reversal closes that loop: a beta software fix, headed into a broad release, cured what CR's tests flagged, and the recommendation is restored. The episode matters because it establishes how quickly a flagship product's public verdict can swing on a patch rather than a recall.
First-order effects
- Apple regains Consumer Reports' recommendation for the 2016 MacBook Pro heading into the rest of the buying cycle, removing the reputational overhang from the December tests.
- Buyers who held off after the non-recommendation get a third-party-validated reason to purchase, since the fix is verifiable in CR's own retests rather than Apple's claims alone.
Second-order effects
- The patch-and-retest sequence becomes a template Apple repeats: when 2018 MacBook Pros showed CPU throttling problems, the company again responded with a supplemental macOS update rather than a hardware change (the 2018 throttling fix).
- Review outlets face pressure to treat verdicts as provisional and retest after major OS updates, since a single test cycle can now be invalidated by a vendor patch weeks later.
Third-order effects
- If over-the-air fixes keep substituting for hardware revisions or recalls, the line between hardware defect and software bug blurs — shifting warranty and consumer-protection questions toward whether a patch fully remedies a product sold with a flaw.
- Laptop launches effectively ship unfinished, with early reviews functioning as beta feedback that vendors fold into subsequent updates, weakening the traditional review-as-verdict model.
The trend: Post-launch software patches are becoming the standard remedy for hardware test failures at Apple, turning reviewer recommendations into provisional judgments that can be reversed by an update.