After a week of hearing about and reading tons of emails about the reception issue of iPhone 4, Apple has finally released a public statement about this problem. According to this statement of Apple, this is only a software issue and iPhone 4 has no hardware problem. They have done something wrong for calculating the signal strength of iPhone 4. Currently the signals drop while touching its lower left corner.
Here is the statement that Apple released for their customers who were worried because of the signals issues of iPhone 4.
CUPERTINO, Calif., July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –
Dear iPhone 4 Users,
The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.
To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.
At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?
We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.
Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.
We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.
We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.
As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.
Thank you for your patience and support.
SOURCE Apple
Well this statement from Apple would have definitely calmed down most of the iPhone 4 users. But we still have to wait for the software update for another couple of weeks. This statement also shows that iPhone 4 has no actual reception issues which means that their should be no problems for the service.
[via macrumors]
What a stupid statement! It's SO OBVIOUS that this is a hardware problem not software. Apple must change the whole package not trying to calm us down (and lie to us) that this would be solved with some miserable update
How on earth can such a leading company produce such a crap?
I am an electronic designer at Cashline and my hardwaredesigns run already for 20 years non-stop at our customers. I often wonder when I see some products; ” where is that moment of the gathering of all the overpaid managers, sitting at that large table and having the final product shown to them”
“Do they even look at it? Or do they just look at it?” I mean an engineering dept should TEST whatever they claim-by-design and the product should be perfect upon presentation. But even then, the management at Apple, dont they ever drop their phones?, dont they use it themselves? Nobody sees those defects? Really, my imagination falls short over such big-time blunders.
And the text about recaculating the bars is an act of disrespect to their customers. Yes, Apple must think their own customers are totally stupid. In fact, they are.