Further, notably, the 4S for which they could have easily changed case designed if needed, uses this same essential external antenna design. I never owned a 4, but my 4S works fine.
Yes, it has two antennas and it also, unlike the iPhone 4, is both a CDMA and a GSM phone. Hence it needs multiple antennas for the different networks.
The antenna is still on the outside. You can still attenuate the signal by holding the phone with just the right death grip, as you could the iPhone 4, and every other phone on the market.
There was no problem to fix. This is a perfect example of how people spread lies -- with the help of media who wants to latch onto anything that might show controversy about Apple- to create these false impressions.
Reality: Every phone, if held in the right way, with have signal attenuation. This is basic physics.
Reality Distortion: There's a problem with the iPhone 4! It was fixed in the 4S!
What I can't understand is the persistence in constantly repeating these falsehoods, even after the truth comes out. I state the truth (the same design in the 4s) and then someone spouts the claim that it was "fixed" because the design did improve.
Well, every iPhone is going to improve on the last. That doesn't validate a false claim that the previous version was defective because it lacked future improvements!