iPhone Bumpers Reaching End-of-Life

Stock constraints of the controversial iPhone 4 Bumper case in major regions around the world indicate that Apple is discontinuing the product as it moves to launch the next-generation iPhone 5.

A person who appears to be familiar with Apple’s product shipments is telling the people at 9to5mac that major regions (as in major Apple retail stores and Apple resellers) around the world are experiencing stock constraints.

The iPhone 4 Bumper - basically a rubber band that goes around the antenna frame of the handset to protect it from bumps and from your radio wave-sucking hands - costs $30.

It was initially marketed as a fashionable protective accessory for the iPhone 4 but it was soon revealed that the product was just as necessary to use to keep a strong cellular signal.

Steve Jobs himself took the stage at a San Francisco press conference in 2010 to tell the world that Apple was ceding to demands of free Bumpers, in an attempt to alleviate the Antennagate fiasco.

By now, pretty much everyone who needed a Bumper got one, or bought a third-party solution. Those who are now buying an iPhone 4 still have the remaining stock to rely upon.

When the iPhone 5 is released, Apple will presumably match the number of remaining iPhone 4s against the remaining number of Bumpers, and handset production will diminish gradually.

In fact, it’s already dwindling as you are reading these lines.

The iPhone 5 will then take the spotlight, at which time the Bumpers will be a thing of the past.

But what about the rumors that Apple’s next-generation iPhone will be almost identical in design as the iPhone 4?

Rest assured that even if the next Apple smartphone has an outer antenna, Bumpers will no longer be needed to keep a phone conversation going for more than two minutes.