Apple COO Tim Cook (left) and CEO Steve Jobs answers questions during a press conference on antenna problems with the iPhone 4 at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, July 16, 2010. (REUTERS)

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18 (AFP) – Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said Friday that reception problems with the new iPhone 4 had been overblown but apologized to buyers who experienced issues and offered free cases as a fix.

Jobs, speaking at a press conference for a select group of journalists at Apple headquarters, said other smartphones have antenna problems similar to those reported with the latest iPhone model.

''We're not perfect,'' Jobs said. ''Phones aren't perfect either.''

He acknowledged the iPhone 4 drops slightly more calls than the previous version of the smartphone, the iPhone 3GS, but said the issue had been ''blown so out of proportion that it's incredible.''

''There is no 'Antennagate,''' he said. ''We think there's a problem but we think it's affecting a small percentage of users.''

Some iPhone 4 users have complained they lose reception when holding the lower left corner of the phone -- whose unusual antenna wraps completely around the device -- in what has been referred to as the ''death grip.''

Jobs said Apple will provide free rubber bumpers that surround the sides of the phone and refund buyers who have already purchased the cases.

Some users have said the cases, which cost 29 dollars, remedy the reception problems that have given a company priding itself on the quality of its products a rare dose of negative publicity.

Jobs, who promised a full refund to unsatisfied customers, appeared to have satisfied investors and analysts.

shares were up slightly in after-hours electronic trading after losing 0.62 percent in New York on Friday to close at 249.90 dollars.

''I don't think they've had a lot of serious product issues over the years,'' Gartner research vice president Mike McGuire told AFP.

''From a consumer perspective, they've now told me how this is going to be dealt with. And they even said if I'm really still unhappy, I can return it... You can't ask for much more than that.

''Somebody's always going to complain that they should have done it sooner,'' McGuire added, ''but they said 'Hey, let's go check it out first and get some information.'''

Jobs said the iPhone 4 had received the highest customer satisfaction ever for an iPhone, describing it as ''perhaps the best product we've ever made.''

''People seem to like it,'' he said, adding that Apple has sold more than three million iPhone 4s since it hit stores three weeks ago.

Jobs showed a video of smartphones from Blackberry maker Research in Motion, Taiwan's HTC and South Korea's Samsung in a bid to demonstrate that all devices lose signal strength when gripped in a certain way.

''It's certainly not unique to the iPhone 4,'' he said. ''Every smartphone has this issue. Smartphones have weak spots.''

Jobs said only 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 buyers had called Apple hotlines to complain about antenna or reception issues and only 1.7 percent of US buyers had returned their iPhone 4 to carrier AT&T.