Apple had declined to comment on other aspects the iPhone 4 antenna controversy, but categorically rejected the Bloomberg report, saying: “We challenge Bloomberg BusinessWeek to produce anything beyond rumors to back this up. It’s simply not true.”
Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg had reported that senior engineer and antenna expert Ruben Caballero warned Apple execs that the design could lead to signal degradation and dropped calls.
Apple has called a press conference for Friday to discuss the issue, and the company is largely expected to announce some sort of hardware fix for the problem.
On Thursday, Apple released iOS 4.0.1, a software update for iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 that changes the way reception bars are displayed on the devices. Apple has said that iOS 4 used the wrong algorithm for determining and displaying carrier signal strength, and that the update fixes this to use the same algorithms used by carriers, including AT&T in the U.S.