Apple To Reveal "Internal Bumpers" To Resolve iPhone 4 Antenna Issues

A Wall Street analyst is claiming that sources are telling him that Apple has decided on a fix for the antenna issues that are plaguing many iPhone 4 users and potential buyers. An analyst with Rodman & Renshaw Capital Grop, Ashok Kumar, says that a dubbed "internal bumper" is being added to new phones in order to better insulate the transceiver. According to Kumar, suppliers in Asia have told him that the change is causing a slowdown in production which has led the online Apple Store to increase shipping estimates to three weeks.

Kumar recently told AppleInsider that the fix, which he thinks Jobs will reveal in today's press conference is "from an engineering perspective... more of a brute force than an elegant addition." Rather than doing a full product recall and redesigning the circuitry to completely eliminate the problem, Apple is opting to do a "quick fix" to make customers happy. A more elegant solution he says, will be implemented on a CDMA version of the iPhone later this year. Kumar has been one of the few insisting for months that an iPhone model compatible with Verizon's network will be released later this year.

Another thing Kumar believes is that Apple is going public with the fix now, ahead of it's quarterly earnings report next Tuesday to try and limit the financial damage the news can do. Apple's stock has dropped almost 30 points from its post iPhone 4 launch high, and financial analysts have estimated the total recall at about $1.5 billion US. According to Mike Abramsky of the ROyal Bank of Canada, these events could mean 40 cents a share less profit for the quarter. Analysts expect Apple to announce profit of $3.80 per share.

We are eagerly looking forward to Apple's press conference today at 10:00AM PDT (1:00PM EDT). As usual if you are looking to stay up to date with any news and info about your iPhone 4 stay tuned by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.