Other IP68 Rating Questions

[Cantedvalve]

My son, God bless him, walked into the ocean with his 14 Pro Max in his pocket. It was in a case, perfect condition. He wasn't in there long (or deep), and we rinsed and dried it quickly. Long story short water got inside and ruined the phone. $700 later and they replaced it. I know they don't cover that kind of damage. My question is more of a "philosophical" one. What good is the IP rating? If the "resistance" fails and the phone is ruined, why is it even advertised? Particularly when there is no support from the manufacturer? If they advertised the lowest operating temperature phone ever, but it wasn't and cooked itself, would they cover it? I view both as manufacturing or engineering defects.

Just curious. Incident is over and he learned his lesson. It just struck me that they can/would advertise a feature that may not work.

 

[ChelseaDrew]

That stinks. My 11Pro took everything I through at it.. I used to live near the beach in Florida. It def saw salt water and fresh water and dropped it in the ocean once. I did how ever manage to kill it in a hot spring being a smart butt trying to show someone that it could hold up..... It was the heat that actually got it they said. But I have seen people jump in the ocean with their newer iPhones and it is fine. I have a 13 pro now and live in Colorado so not an issue rally anymore but surprised it ruined the phone if it was only in there for a few minutes.

 

[cthompson94]

Well remember that accident was with salt water and the IP68 rating is for fresh water. There are also who knows what in the ocean water at any given time also I take it that the phone was probably on also which wouldn't help mainly for that salt water part. The rating system is also under controlled conditions and is basically a marketing tool which some people buy items specifically for the rating thinking of it almost like insurance(not including things like divers equipment and such more talking about general consumer electronics.) Someone in the Apple forums did a great write up here explaining in great non-technical detail the IP rating and how it can relate to real life use.

 

[Hele]

My son, God bless him, walked into the ocean with his 14 Pro Max in his pocket. It was in a case, perfect condition. He wasn't in there long (or deep), and we rinsed and dried it quickly. Long story short water got inside and ruined the phone. $700 later and they replaced it. I know they don't cover that kind of damage. My question is more of a "philosophical" one. What good is the IP rating? If the "resistance" fails and the phone is ruined, why is it even advertised? Particularly when there is no support from the manufacturer? If they advertised the lowest operating temperature phone ever, but it wasn't and cooked itself, would they cover it? I view both as manufacturing or engineering defects.

Just curious. Incident is over and he learned his lesson. It just struck me that they can/would advertise a feature that may not work.

I think if I dropped my iPhone14 Pro Max into water and it was fine and still worked I'd probably just consider myself lucky. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to take phone calls in the rain. I've used my AirPods Pro in the rain many times knowing that they have been tested with jets of water aimed at them.

Sorry for the stroke of bad luck. I remember seeing the commercials for the iPhone 12 Pro and later models with jets of water being aimed at them and with people using them in torrential downpours.

 

[ctjack]

Nobody knows what happened. It might be a bad sealing from the factory or the phone might have fallen on a concrete. That is why this type of damages are not covered because there is no way to tell if everything is in place.
I forgot iphone 11 in my swimming shorts and realized 30 seconds later in the pool - luckily it didn’t break.

 

[Andeddu]

Must have something to do with salt water. I used to wash my iPhone 8 and iPhone 12 Mini once per month in the sink and completely submerge them in water. I must have did that 30x with my iPhone 8 and never noted any damage or problems to the phone. I haven’t tested out my iPhone 13’s IP rating yet because all these liquid damage stories have gotten me paranoid and I don’t want to risk it.

 

[Basic75]

What good is the IP rating?

If it's engineered to survive X minutes at Y depth in some laboratory it gives me the peace of mind to not worry about answering a phone call in some light rain. That's good enough for me.