Apple to Answer Calls to Explain iPhone Glitches

Apple announced that on Friday it will address growing criticism over its iPhone 4 reception problems, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In June, the company launched the much-anticipated phone, which features an antenna in a stainless steel band around the phone's frame. But the phone has been slammed with a mountain of complaints of dropped calls when the antenna is partially covered.

On Monday, Consumer Reports came out with a post explaining why it couldn't recommend buying the iPhone 4.

An Apple spokesman declined to provide any details on Friday's news conference or whether a possible recall or other fix was in the works. But speculation is brewing.

"Given the intense pressure and scrutiny Apple has come under on the problem with the iPhone 4, it's going to be about some kind of fix or compensation for the owners of the phone," Ed Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research, told the Wall Street Journal.

According to the newspaper, a recall of the iPhone is unlikely, since the problem doesn't affect safety and is only sporadic. But another fix is possible - some analysts told the Wall Street Journal that the Cupertino, Calif. company could give away its $29 rubber "bumper" case, which would solve the reception problem. That would cost Apple up to $5 a phone, the Journal reports.

Advised against buying the iPhone 4, Consumer Reports concluded from its testing  that the iPhone 4's antenna problems are not related to software and more serious than Apple has let on.