In this paper we give a new proof for the classification result in [3]. We show that isoparametric hypersurfaces with four distinct principal curvatures in spheres are of Clifford type provided that the multiplicities m1 , m2 of the principal curvatures satisfy m2 ≥ 2m1 − 1. This inequality is satisfied for all but five possible pairs (m1 , m2 ) with m1 ≤ m2 .