In the press conference convened by Apple to talk about the reception issues of its latest iPhone, the iPhone 4, CEO Steve Jobs compared the signal reception of other smartphones like Nokia, RIM and HTC. Even before the conference was held, during the initial days when the signal reception issue of the iPhone 4 was raised, Apple had defended themselves mentioning that all smartphones do suffer from dropping of signal strength when held in a particular manner. According to them, the iPhone 4 was not the only device affected by it.

One thing to be noted here is that none of the other smartphones (be it Nokia's, or RIM's Blackberry, or HTC's phones), have had such widespread issues of a drastic signal strength fall, when gripped on the lower side, like the iPhone 4. However, Apple is adamant that the iPhone 4 is not the only "ugly duckling" when it comes to signal reception issues. Moreover, Apple claim that only a small fraction of iPhone 4 users have been reported to have the signal strength problem.

During the press conference, Mr Jobs reportedly aired a video which showed the dropping of signal strengths of the HTC Eris and the Blackberry Bold 9700. Steve Jobs also mentioned about Nokia mobile phones that ship with a sticker on their backs saying "don't touch here".

An Ars Technica report states that co-CEOs of RIM, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, pointed out that all Blackberry phones are capable of maintaining proper connectivity without having to use bumper cases. They also said, "Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation."

Eric Lin, HTC global PR and online community manager, said in a statement to Pocket-lint, "We have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris."

Nokia too have reportedly mentioned that they have invested 1000s of man-hours in analysing how people hold their mobile phones; studying antenna design on the top and bottom of the handset,  carefully selecting materials and using them in the mechanical design.