Apple Hosting iPhone 4 Press Conference Friday

Apple will be hosting a press conference at 10AM pacific time to talk about the recently released iPhone 4. The company isn’t elaborating on what will be discussed, but it seems likely the device’s antenna and proximity sensor issues will be on the list.

The Cupertino-based company has been battling bad press over problems some customers have been reporting related to iPhone 4 signal strength loss when holding the combination iPod and smartphone so the lower left corner is covered.

Consumer Reports rated the iPhone 4 at the top of its smartphone list, but refused to recommend the phone because of what it called hardware-related problems with the antennas.

Apple has suggested users try holding the phone so their hand isn’t touching the edge of the device where the external antennas meet. It also admitted that a software-related issue is causing the phone to display artificially high signal strength bars and that a fix will be available in the next few weeks.

The Mac Observer will be covering Apple’s press event announcements on Friday.