Apple offers free iPhone 4 fix
Posted July 16, 2010 9:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
“We’re not perfect,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared Friday.
He said the iPhone 4 is not the only smartphone to suffer from reception problems.
Jobs said current owners will be given a free fix.
The fix, a band that wraps around the phone, is supposed to solve the problem. It will result in fewer dropped calls, as well as faster internet service.
Apple has been beset with complaints from buyers of its latest iPhone model that holding the phone with a bare hand can muffle the wireless signal.
The problem has been termed the “death grip.”
The iPhone 4 has been dogged by complaints about the antenna problem since it went on sale in the U.S. three weeks ago.
But Jobs claims it’s an issue common to smartphones in general, and said competitors have phones that suffer from the same problem.
He cited Research in Motion’s BlackBerry Bold 9800, Samsung’s Omnia 2 and the HTC Droid Eris as examples.
On Monday, Consumer Reports said careful testing had confirmed the issue with the iPhone 4.
The magazine refused to recommend the phone and called on Apple to compensate buyers. As a result, customers are now being issued a full refund if they are unsatisfied with the phone.
The phone will be released in Canada by the end of July, and the band to fix the issue will be offered as well.
