Apple to hold iPhone 4 news conference Friday

iPhone 4 – signal problems
The iPhone 4 is suffering from some signal problems

Apple is to hold a news conference this coming Friday to discuss signal strength concerns with the recently-released iPhone 4.

The press conference will be held at 10am Pacific time (6pm British summer time) at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Apple has come under a barrage of criticism since it was noticed that holding the phone in a certain way severely degraded reception, something that he company has since insisted is more to do with a long-term fault in the way its handsets displays the strength of the signal.

TechRadar's video of the iPhone flaw, published on launch day, became one of the most Dugg articles of the day and attracted tens of thousand of views, and the furore over the so-called 'death grip' has still not died down.

Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling has not revealed any further details of who is going to be speaking at this week's emergency press conference.

Fastest-selling iPhone yet

Apple has already sold a total of 1.7 million iPhone 4s, making it the fastest-selling phone in the company's history.

However, continued problems with the device's mobile reception signalling have proven to be a PR nightmare for the company in recent weeks.

Earlier last month, Apple claimed that the problems were due to an issue the iPhone 4's software, which it said would be fixed by an OS update.

Yet trusted US buyer's guide Consumer Reports magazine has refused to recommend the iPhone 4 this month until Apple fixes the problem once and for all, claiming that the new iPhone does suffer from a hardware fault.

Whether or not Steve Jobs decides to recall the first batch of iPhone 4s or merely offer free bumpers or cases to those that have bought the device remains to be seen.

Via Reuters and The New York Times

Adam Hartley