Remember that time when everyone turned on Apple because their latest smartphone, then the iPhone 4, dropped signal when held in a certain way? The whole fiasco was dubbed ‘Antennagate’, and back then Apple offered customers a free bumper case to alleviate the issue.
In July of 2010 Steve Jobs confirmed at a media event that Apple would be issuing free bumper cases, although it couldn’t make enough to compliment every iPhone 4 they had made.
In February of last year a settlement was reached regarding the reimbursement of customers, with a $15/£15 fee agreed for those who hadn’t received their free bumper case.
9to5mac has received several reports from its readers that the cheques are now coming through in the post from Apple, reimbursing them for the $15/£15 they spent, or in some cases didn’t spend, all that time ago on a bumper case for the iPhone 4.
The whole issue stemmed from Apple’s brand new design with the iPhone 4, whereby the antenna was built in to a metal band that ran around the edge of the phone. Many customers found mobile network signal to drop significantly, sometimes resulting in dropped calls, when the iPhone was held in a certain way. This lead to the term ‘Death Grip’ being coined – or basically, holding your phone.
Whilst it’s not much to one person alone, it’s estimated that Apple will be paying out a total of $53 million as a result of Antennagate. Ouch!