Following up on yesterday's report that several iPhone users have had trouble adapting the eight gigabyte iPhone contract to their recently-purchased 16 gigabyte iPhone, being told they had to sign new two year contracts with AT&T, Apple took steps to clarify the situation.

According to iLounge, an Apple employee offered this comment on a discussion thread:

“Use the SIM from your current iPhone,” said Apple employee Nathan C., before editing his post to say “My apologies these steps may not work. You may need to activate it with the new SIM choosing the option to ‘replace’ an existing phone on your account.”

Mark Siegel, Executive Director of Media and Analyst Relations with AT&T, has stated that, “If you upgrade from an 8 to a 16 GB iPhone, you sign a new contract. However, we automatically backdate it to the starting point of your contract on the 8 GB phone.” He added that the company “will make every effort to ensure that our reps provide customers with the correct information.”

Upgrading customers activating the new iPhone model should do so via the included SIM card for the new device and should check that they use the option during activation in which the new iPhone is replacing an older unit.

If you've picked up a new 16 gigabyte iPhone and seen this problem or a variant of it, let us know over in the comments or forums.