But we can get an idea of the reasons that led him to withdraw it. Of which, all of them converge into one.
A backlit apple from the 1999 PowerBook G3
As they tell in this video, in 1999 Apple presented to the world its 3rd generation PowerBook G3, the first portable Mac with a backlit apple. The model was already quite successful and would still be marketed for two more years until January 2001. But for this generation, Apple wanted to give it a different touch by lighting up the logo on its lid.
Placed upside down when you opened the Mac, it soon became a symbol of the company. Since then and with a subsequent 180 degree turn, Apple laptops they incorporated this apple feature on the back of their screen. A very appropriate idea to proclaim to the four winds that Apple, the company that was a few weeks from bankruptcy, had returned.
Over time, that backlit apple served for more than that. It ended up becoming more than just a logo. The arrival of the second generation of MacBook Air in 2010 was the trigger for those illuminated apples they began to be seen in all the universities, cafes and offices around the world. That bitten apple with light made Apple laptops recognizable wherever they went.
In the end, the illuminated apple was no longer necessary for Apple
Years later, Apple decided that the backlit apple on their laptops had served its purpose. It was phased out starting with the 2015 MacBook, 2016 MacBook Pro, and 2018 MacBook Air. Apple has never said why it removed this characteristic logo from its laptops, but we can get an idea of the reasons behind this decision.
The main one is that it had already fulfilled its mission. In 2015 it was already evident that Apple was not only far from bankruptcy, but on the way to breaking all sales records years later, to the point of becoming the first American company to reach two billion dollars in capitalization. Making the brand known was no longer necessary. It was time to be discreet and let the design of their portable Macs do the talking. Now, the company is committed to hiding or removing the logo as in the AirPods Max or the new iMac 2021, letting the design speak for itself.
The backlit apple took advantage of the light produced by the screen’s LEDs to show itself on. Therefore, when we adjusted the brightness of the screen, the apple did too. In this sense, he was not a “waste” of battery because he was simply using something that was already done. Removing it opened the door to using other better screen technologies.
There were also a series of drawbacks that reinforced their withdrawal. And it is that if we put a strong light source behind the cover, the apple logo let a part of that light pass through showing a spot in the center of the screen. In some extreme cases it even “burned” on her. Using the equipment outdoors therefore affected the color accuracy of the Mac (using it outdoors is also not a good idea if you are concerned about this).
Finally, the thinness of the screen in the new portable Mac models demanded superior robustness to avoid damage. The structural integrity of a (near) aluminum sheet is less when you have a hole in the center. Replacing the backlit apple logo with an aluminum one increased that strength.
It may be that Apple, at the time, did not give the official reasons for the removal of the backlit apple on portable Macs. But we can deduce them and see the reason for this decision. Will it come back in the future?