What is Flexgate?
Flexgate refers to premature fatigue cracking in the flexible ribbon cables that connect the MacBook's logic board to the display panel through the unibody hinge clutch.
To save space in laptops manufactured since 2016, Apple routed thin, non-replaceable ribbon cables wrapped tightly around the hinge barrel. Every time you open and close the laptop lid, the copper traces experience bending stress.
The 2 Stages of Flexgate Failure
- Stage Lighting (Bottom Spotlight Effect): Individual high-voltage LED backlight return traces break first, causing bright and dark vertical beams along the bottom edge of the screen, resembling theater stage footlights.
- Total Blackout: As more traces tear, opening the lid beyond 45Ā° cuts power completely, leaving the screen completely black.
Test your backlight channels on Mac Screen Test and deploy DisplayGuard.