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Analyst says Apple has a hardware fix for iPhone 4

Analyst Ashok Kumar says supply chain checks show the company has come up with a design fix that "more adequately insulates the transceiver module."

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers

Is an iPhone 4 antenna fix beyond the bumper in the works? One analyst says there is.

A hardware fix would reult in better insulation for an antenna-related module, according to an analyst
A hardware fix would result in better insulation for an antenna-related module, according to an analyst.

In a note sent out Thursday morning, Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, said the long-term fix is mechanical. "Our supply chain checks reveal that Apple has instituted a design fix for the iPhone 4 that more adequately insulates the transceiver module," he wrote in the note.

How, or when, Apple would implement a fix for existing iPhone 4 owners, however, is unclear.

Ever since the iPhone 4 was released on June 24, some iPhone owners have complained that when gripping the phone around the lower left-hand corner of the device, the signal degrades or calls are dropped.

The company has acknowledged an antenna issue but has said it is a software problem. Apple has also suggested that consumers should hold the phone differently. Another piece of advice from the company has been to buy its $29 rubber bumper to put around the phone to avoid covering up the antenna.

Apple is expected to hold a press conference Friday that may address the antenna issue.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.