It seems that the whole iPhone 4 antenna reception issue just won’t go away for Apple, and in all honesty why would it? It’s believed that about 1/4 of all users are affected by the issue that means holding the phone in a certain way gives bad reception and while this is an issue that most people believe should be fixed by the manufacturer as part of their warranty Apple quite clearly disagrees.
For their own part, they’ve stated that it’s merely an issue with the calculation of reception bars on the phone handset rather than an actual reception problem but many individuals and companies are not convinced and even fewer are convinced by the efforts that Apple aren’t putting in to remedying the situation.
As reported by AppleInsider, Bernstein Research has weighed up the figures to determine which would be the most viable method of resolution for the electronics giant. Having sold or shipped around 6 million units, the figures are based on this.
- A complete product recall would cost an estimated $250 per phone or $1.5bn total.
- An in-store fix would cost around $75 per phone or $450m total.
- The cheapest and therefore most likely resolution is to give a free bumper case which retail at $29 each – $174m total. Obviously it wouldn’t cost Apple this much to give away a free case to every iPhone owner.
The company has already stated that they won’t give a free bumber case but with the pressure mounting up for them to live up to their end of the agreement, it is possible that they may make an about turn.
Meanwhile, AppleInsider has also reported that some retail staff that are “in the loop” have been privy to an internal statement saying that something big is coming. However, don’t get your hopes up too much, as the site also predicts that it will be retail related so is only really likely to impact the stores themselves.
