Why The Waterproof Mobile Phone Is Not Guaranteed When It Is Flooded?

In the era of "fast" mobile Internet in which everything pays attention to, the transmission speed of information is like a virus. At the same time, it is also potentially misleading, especially the kind of "out of context" information. Many mobile phone manufacturers claim that their mobile phones have waterproof functions. For example, apple made an advertisement in which iPhone users were drenched with soup. The screen, which lasts only a few seconds, selectively shows users the excellent side of the iPhone: the waterproof ability is reassuring.

If you are not a mobile technology enthusiast like 99% of people, you will think that your iPhone can cope with the flow of traffic at will. As everyone knows, this practice in the advertisement is likely to scrap your mobile phone, and then the manufacturer will not give warranty.

So what does the "waterproof" ability of mobile phone mean? Facing the confident waterproof performance publicity of manufacturers, how should we treat it? This blog will give you the answer.

There is no real "waterproof" mainstream mobile phone

First of all, we should make it clear that no matter how the manufacturer publicizes, the mainstream mobile phones that are not special equipment cannot be called "waterproof" in the strict sense, but "water-resistant" at most.

The reason for this is the IP waterproof level adopted by many mobile phone manufacturers. The waterproof grade we see on the mobile phone, such as "IP67" or "IP68", is the test result under a specific experimental environment (the last digit is the waterproof grade).

So what are the requirements for this test? Take the iPhone 12 Pro series mobile phone as an example. It is written on the product page of Apple's official website: "after testing under controlled laboratory conditions, its effect reaches IP68 level under IEC 60529 standard (the maximum residence time under the water of up to 6 meters is up to 30 minutes)."

Therefore, even in the perfect laboratory environment, mobile phones can only resist the invasion of water to a certain extent, and can not be truly waterproof.

Then, in the test standard details of IEC 60529, we can find that these tests have additional strict variable control. In addition to the way, direction, distance and pressure of mobile phone contacting water, the test even has strict requirements on ambient temperature, air pressure and air humidity. Of course, the most important and difficult thing in daily life is the water itself - it must be "clean" water.

This means that the "unclean" and possibly extreme temperature water in daily life, such as tea, beverages, coffee, hot pot soup bottom, seawater and mineral water, are not considered in the IP rating.

Therefore, IP rating only means that a mobile phone has passed the test with extremely special conditions, which does not mean that the mobile phone can have the waterproof ability to "rest assured" in various situations in life.

The waterproof grade publicized is only a "one-off" commitment

The reason why manufacturers do not give water mobile phone warranty is very simple, because even those mobile phones with IP rating are quite vulnerable to all kinds of liquids in life. This is not only because the IP rating itself does not cover all life scenes, but also because the IP rating of mobile phones is actually a "one-time" commitment.

When the mobile phone is just off the production line, it may also have the complete IP waterproof ability of publicity, but when a mobile phone has been in service for a period of time, or "lying" on the warehouse and shelf for a period of time, the waterproof ability of the mobile phone will be reduced due to the aging of internal waterproof materials.

Due to the extreme pursuit of lightness and performance of modern smart phones, manufacturers cannot sacrifice the function of the mobile phone itself in order to add professional durable waterproof measures like special equipment. Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers have used space-saving and cost-effective waterproof solutions: glue, rubber, filter screen and motherboard coating. Glue is responsible for plugging the gap between the mobile phone screen, middle frame and backplane, and rubber is responsible for sealing the opening, key or motherboard interface. As for the waterproof coating of the motherboard, it is still rare in mobile phones. You can ignore it for the time being.

Just like the glass sealing strip on the car, these waterproof measures on the mobile phone will age naturally. After wind, sun and temperature fluctuations, the sealing material of the mobile phone is likely to crack, damage or wear, resulting in waterproof failure. This is why in the small characters at the bottom of the product pages of iPhone 12 pro and Xiaomi 11 ultra, we can see the following words: "splash, water and dust prevention functions are not permanently effective, and the protection performance may decline due to daily wear and tear."

How to use "waterproof" mobile phone correctly?

When the waterproof measures of the mobile phone are aging, once there is water inside, in addition to the possible short circuit, the mobile phone is also facing the corrosion of the circuit. In life, the components in the liquid (such as minerals) will react chemically with the materials in the mobile phone circuit. Therefore, we must be careful when using mobile phones, at least pay attention to the following points:

• Do not wash the phone

There are two main hazards of washing mobile phones with water. The first is the pressure of the faucet. If you accidentally turn the faucet, the continuous and too strong water flow may break through the protection of the mobile phone. Second, there are too many people who have the habit of washing their mobile phones. If there are too many people doing this, there will always be an accident.

• Keep your phone out of water

Whether it's a bathtub, swimming pool or hand washing pool, it's not the place where mobile phones should stay. Not to mention whether the water is clean or not. If the waterproof material of the mobile phone has aged, it will be harmful to clean the water again. Don't do that unless you want to change your cell phone.

• Do not put your phone in ice water or refrigerator

If the external ambient temperature is very low, even if the mobile phone is 100% waterproof, the water vapor in the internal air will condense into liquid due to the large internal and external temperature difference, resulting in damage equivalent to water inflow. Because the internal parts of the mobile phone are very hot, the temperature difference condition is very easy to achieve. We must not take chances.

• Take waterproof measures at the seaside

Seawater should be one of the most dangerous transparent liquids in daily life, because the salt in seawater can easily corrode the sealing materials of mobile phones. Even new mobile phones can't stand such tossing. If you really want to take your mobile phone to a place where it may come into contact with seawater, you need to equip it with a waterproof bag in advance.

• Find a professional to open the mobile phone immediately after entering the water

Many people bury their mobile phones in rice after they get into the water, thinking that rice can suck the water away. However, the fact is that due to the complexity and compactness of the internal structure of the mobile phone, the water will be hidden in a very secret place. Not to mention rice, even the desiccant can't absorb the water sealed in every corner.

Whether it is handled by yourself or handed over to the maintenance personnel, the first thing is to cut off the power (shut down and remove the battery if possible) and disassemble the mobile phone, remove the water in the beach, and expose the wet interior of the fuselage to the air as much as possible. Otherwise, the time of water in your mobile phone will be very long, long enough to "do" damage.

Summary: don't take the initiative to find trouble

Having an IP rating is indeed an advantage of a mobile phone over a non rated mobile phone, but that's all. In actual use, the IP rating cannot guarantee that the mobile phone will not be scrapped due to water. Unless it is a sudden rain or the cup is spilled, we should not let the mobile phone take the initiative to contact the harsh environment. What can protect the mobile phone is not a laboratory certified rating, but your usage habits.

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