It was bound to happen. Apple would never let mainstream news, blogs and other sources keep complaining about the iPhone 4 reception issue without publishing an official statement.
They finally published the statement this morning:
Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4
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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.
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So apparently, the software fix to this problem is to adjust the values that the bars represents on the phone. Not adjust the radio software in the phone or anything else that might actually make sense. Nope, just adjust the values that the bars represents.
One really surprising sentence in the statement:
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.
It really surprises me that they would even put that in the official statement. Maybe they feel that they need to if for no other reason than to cover their butts for legal reasons.
Of course no words at all about giving out a free bumper if you go into the store complaining about the problem. Not really a surprise there. I still feel that if given the choice of returning the phone or giving out a free Apple Bumper case to appease the customer, a customer would probably take the case and save Apple $170 or $270 and keep the customer happy. You have to assume that Apple would do this to keep their customers happy.
One thing that will probably change this year, no award for excellence for this iPhone or at least customer support.
