From the way that Apple’s “Antennagate” PR crisis has unfolded in the media, you may be surprised to learn that the bad press is not equating to lost sales. But despite that, it’s still going to cost Apple a hefty sum of cash to appease customers with free cases.

Cult of Mac has pulled a couple of interesting factoids from yesterday’s conference call with Wall Street analysts after Apple reported another “best quarter ever” to the tune of $3.25 billion in net income.

“The demand for iPhone 4 is stunning,” said Apple COO Tim Cook during the conference call. “Let me be very clear on this: We are selling every unit we are making.”

Translation: The PR crisis known as “Antennagate” is anything but, and it’s failed to stop people from buying the iPhone 4. That will come as good news to folks who actually own (and proudly use) the handset and have in recent weeks been viewed as a second-class citizen by less tech-savvy friends and family who hear the bad news and take it as gospel.

“My phone is ringing off the hook with people who want more supply,” Cook said, while recanting the company line that there have been very few returns over the antenna issue, calling them “extremely small.”

Last Friday, Apple announced their solution to the problem in the form of free cases for every iPhone 4 customer through the end of September, as suggested by many Wall Street analysts. Cupertino has already ceased sales of their own Bumper cases in anticipation of giving away free cases later this week.

So how much will handing out free cases cost the company? According to Apple executives during yesterday’s conference call, upwards of $175 million -- a drop in the bucket considering all of the cash Apple is raking in these days, but still a significant amount of dough for something the company has dismissed as a non-issue in the first place.

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