Rubber Gaskets Found Around iPhone 6 And 6 Plus Buttons Protects Against Water

Smartphone OEMs these days are starting to introduce more protective features to their phones. While there have been plenty of water and dust resistant phones in the past, it is safe to say that Sony truly kicked things off with the Sony Xperia Z when the offered water and dust resistance in a high-end flagship device that did not compromise on its design.

Samsung followed suit with the Galaxy S5 and if you’re wondering when will Apple hop on board the bandwagon, it seems that they sort of have already. According to the teardown by the folks at iFixit (via 9to5Mac), it has been discovered that Apple has included rubber gaskets which are placed around some of the iPhone 6’s buttons, which you can see in the image above.

What this does is that it allows the iPhone to enjoy brief immersions in the water without taking too much damage. We should note that this is by no means comparable to the water resistance offered by Sony or Samsung, but it is an improvement from earlier iterations of the iPhone. While previous iPhones could survive brief dips in water, their buttons and features would fail rapidly.

With the inclusion of the rubber gasket, it should help iPhone 6 devices survive should you accidentally spill water on it or drop it into the toilet. According to the folks at Squaretrade, they found that the gaskets allowed the iPhone 6 units to survive underwater for 10 seconds without any real damage. We don’t suggest that you try to test your iPhone’s ability to swim, but we guess you can rest assured knowing your new phone won’t be completely ruined if it does run into a bit of water.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iphone 6, iphone 6 plus