Does the design of the iPhone’s antenna really lead to reception problems? Depends on who you ask, though quite a bit of conventional wisdom seems to be coalescing around the answer “Yes.” And as if the iPhone 4 story couldn’t look more calamitous for Apple than it continues to, a new angle just might make this all much worse for Cupertino.

Hot on the heels of Consumer Reports, let us say, mixed review of the iPhone 4, we have this story out from Bloomberg that claims top Apple management heard concerns about the design last year. As is typical in Apple news stories, this one hinges on unnamed sources -- whether by actual skimpiness of credibility or Jobs’ reported vindictiveness is difficult to gauge.

But what the story has is some specificity. To wit, Bloomberg claims that Apple’s senior engineer and antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, informed management early on in the design phase that this type of antenna could lead to reception problems. Apple’s PR flack, Steve Dowling, offered up the typical “No comment,” and refused to make Caballero available to the news agency. Nor did Caballero return Bloomberg’s emails or calls.

The story was somewhat strengthened by (unfortunately) another unnamed source who claimed that one of Apple’s carrier partners also raised some issues with the antenna design prior to the handset’s launch. Apparently the carrier went so far as to test the antenna, leading to their voicing their concerns to Cupertino. There’s no indication in the article that Apple took either parties’ concerns under advisement.

So, will tomorrow’s press conference take this newest report into consideration? Will Apple announce a software fix or just a tweak to how the iPhone calculates bars? Will there be a recall (unlikely in any event, and especially if these analyst's numbers are to be believed) or will Apple half-apologize and make their bumpers free to all iPhone 4 owners? All we can say, obviously, is stay turned.