Consumer Reports won’t recommend the Verizon iPhone. Do consumers care?

February 25, 2011 6:05 PM
Anthony Ha
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MobileBeat 2013
July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA
Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The new Verizon iPhone may have antenna issues that are similar to its counterpart on AT&T, according to Consumer Reports.

In one respect, this isn’t a huge surprise, since the Verizon iPhone 4 appears to be the same as the AT&T iPhone 4 — just, you know, on Verizon. If the antenna design created minor reception issues on one network (at least if you held the phone in a certain way), those problems wouldn’t go away if you moved to another network.

On the other hand, Apple seemed to escape any mention of antenna problems in the early reviews of the Verizon device. The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg didn’t bring up any antenna issues, and TechCrunch’s MG Siegler said he tried and failed to replicate the antenna problem.

So there’s a discrepancy between CR’s results and the reviewers’. Even the consumer advocacy group admits that the Verizon antenna problems are limited to “low-signal conditions”, but it argued that this is still a significant problem “since low signal conditions are unavoidable when using any cell phone network.” (That’s true, I guess, but they’re probably much more avoidable on Verizon than on AT&T.)

As a result, CR says that it won’t include the Verizon iPhone on its list of recommended smartphones.

But will it make any difference in sales? Probably not. After all, the earlier antenna scandal (dubbed “antennagate”) got a lot of publicity, with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs saying he was “stunned and upset” by the CR’s criticisms, yet the iPhone 4 was a tremendous hit.

I suppose there is one risk: Verizon iPhone customers were probably waiting for this device specifically because they wanted better reception, so they’re going to be less tolerant than AT&T customers who accept dropped calls as a normal part of the iPhone experience.

  • http://twitter.com/SpotBanks SpotBanks

    no

  • pxlated

    Consumers won't care – CR is just fishing for more page views – Do they test and promote other phone antenna issues – they all have them under the right conditions – Haven't seen any. Page View Whores

  • Radler

    Consumer Reports may matter when people don't know much about a product. But most people know people with iPhones. They can ask them or try it out.

  • iWontComment

    You are an Apple whore….

  • pxlated

    Classier than a common street corner whore like you :-)

  • http://bayansell.com/ BayanSell

    Consumer Reports is becoming a publicity hound lately.

  • HangoTango

    One thing is for sure, if Consumer reports says its so, then surely it is so!http://www.web-anonymity.it.tc

  • raycote

    My wife's LG Android has the same behavior. The manual even points out how not to hold the phone!

  • kentadams

    Interesting. Android comes with a manual normally? That explains a lot.

  • jbelkin

    Yea, now CR is just stamping it's feet – mad that people don't care that their testing methods are clearly not in sync with today's audience … That 'not recommending' the iPhone because in their labs and vise gripping 'might' cause it to lose a call or have low bars is like complaining the crush button on a blender is too small … As apple noted, .03% hated it enough to return it … I'll bet CR has a higher canceled sub rate … they gotten get with the 21st century.

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