ChangeWave says iPhone 4 issue more serious

As many as a fifth of all iPhone 4 owners have been hit by the iPhone 4's "death grip" issue in some form but could be happy with Apple's case fix, ChangeWave said in a study today. About 21 percent of owners responding either thought it was "somewhat of a problem" or a "very big" problem, but 73 percent of the group was either very or somewhat satisfied with getting a free case to address it. The majority, 64 percent, either didn't think it was an issue or hadn't noticed it in practice.

The number of dropped calls did spike significantly in July, with time for enough iPhone 4 owners to make an impact, but it was unclear whether the drops were directly related to the iPhone 4 or simply seasonal changes. On AT&T, dropped calls on all phones spiked from 4.5 percent in March to 5.8 percent, but the rate of iPhone 4 dropped calls, 5.2 percent, was not only lower than the average but lower than the 6.8 percent of calls dropped by iPhone 3GS owners in June 2009. Apple said it had designed the iPhone 4 to improve reception for the majority of users and may have improved performance in areas where the signal was weak enough to trigger drops but not weak enough for antenna issues to affect more users.

AT&T's New York City and San Francisco upgrades may also have played a role by reducing issues in the cities with both the highest concentrations of users and the most serious 3G congestion. However, its dropped call rate was well above the average in the study as the next-highest, T-Mobile, only had 3.5 percent of calls drop. Verizon lost just two percent of calls.

The iPhone carrier has routinely claimed that such studies are inaccurate as they don't include a full sample of customers across the US. Many of the study respondents are self-chosen and more likely to exist in problem spots. However, the inability to reliably use iPhones on 3G in certain areas has been a known problem for over two years and hasn't affected other carriers in those same locations.

With the wider international launch of the iPhone 4, anecdotal evidence has surfaced that suggests the vast majority of complaints come from Americans using AT&T. Users in Canada, Europe and other countries or areas where coverage is denser and stronger have been significantly less likely to report problems.

Regardless of cause, Apple may be facing an unexpected public image issue, as the iPhone's overall satisfaction level has dropped. Where 82 percent of iPhone 3GS owners were very satisfied in August of last year, a much lower 72 percent of iPhone 4 owners could say the same in July this year. Almost half (49 percent) valued the 960x640 display, but of dislikes, issues with AT&T and its signal amounted to the vast majority of complaints: 27 percent least liked AT&T's exclusivity, while 24 percent equally complained either about the quality of its network or of the "death grip."

By Electronista Staff