Lest you thought the whole ordeal was over, however, UK-based PA Consulting Group performed its own analysis, using tests similar to those performed by Consumer Reports and others. Those tests are in line with what we have already seen: the iPhone 4 has a bigger problem with signal loss than other smartphones. PA’s wireless expert Simon Tonks concluded that “the ‘death grip’ issue is real, and is worse for the Apple iPhone 4 than for other smartphones.” He also added, “The iPhone 4’s radio performance was also found to be generally at the lower end.”

Testing done on live networks in Norway show a similar problem, albeit with some caveats. Norway’s Verdens Gang newspaper’s testing (Norwegian) led it to the conclusion that some of the blame can be laid at the foot of wireless providers, such as AT&T in the US. Testing there noted the same “death grip” signal loss issue observed elsewhere, but also showed the iPhone performing better than the others in areas of very low signal strength.