Apple says the formula used for determining signal strength is to blame for reception problems plaguing some users of the iPhone 4.
In a statement released today, the company says it was “surprised” to learn of initial reports that blocking the iPhone’s antenna, located along the lower left side of the device, would result in a dramatic drop in reception.
At the time, Apple suggested not holding the phone in a way that would block the antenna.
Now, Apple says the phone registered a drastic drop in reception because it was incorrectly displaying the level of signal strength available to the user.
“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,” reads the Apple statement. “Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”
Apple says it will adopt a signal strength formula created by AT&T which they claim will offer more accurate readings. A software update with the new formula will arrive in the next few weeks for iPhone 4 owners as well as users of the iPhone 3G and 3G S.
