However, having experienced two catastrophic water incidents with my previous Samsung Galaxy smartphones has shown that this is not total protection and does not provide long-lasting peace of mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n I don’t know about you, but since then, I have developed trust issues with the advertised waterproofing features on my smartphones.<\/p>\n It is high time brands make these standards live up to what they actually stand for.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n \t\t It’s hard to overlook some of its glaring drawbacks<\/p>\n Have companies been lying to us?<\/p>\n I used to believe my phone was waterproof<\/p>\n For many years, an IP rating has been a standard feature, and consumers have come to expect it as an outright guarantee of protection against dust, sand, water drops, and splashes.<\/p>\n We have even seen brands convincingly argue that flagships without a proper IP67 or IP68 rating are inferior to their rivals.<\/p>\n Look at how OnePlus and Xiaomi have been catching up to match Samsung and Google in providing comparable ingress protection for their flagships.<\/p>\n It was only with the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 15<\/a> that OnePlus adopted an IP68\/IP69 rating, but before that, previous OnePlus flagships lacked waterproofing.<\/p>\n For me, water resistance has become an indispensable feature I look for in my next phone, and without it, I worry and tend to over-protect my device.<\/p>\n A quick rinse damaged my phone<\/p>\n From that moment, my bad experience snowballed<\/p>\n Several years ago, I was planning to upgrade my Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T to the Redmi Note 12 Pro, but I was held back because the latter only sports an IP53 rating.<\/p>\n While it offers minimal defense, it lacks protection when submerged, unlike devices with higher IP figures.<\/p>\n Instead, I went with the Samsung Galaxy A54. It ships with a higher IP67 rating, meaning it can survive a 1-meter dip for 30 minutes, or the equivalent of high-pressure water jets.<\/p>\n That is a notable difference from the basic rating of the Note 9T, and I felt confident my phone would survive if I dropped it in a pool or washed it after an unfortunate, random exposure to a slurry of dirt. But no.<\/p>\n To tell you frankly, my Galaxy A54 failed me when I washed it under running water after an accidental bird dropping landed on the screen. I had to open the faucet and clean it off.<\/p>\n I expected it to work exactly as it did before the quick rinse. Unfortunately, the result was the exact opposite of my expectations.<\/p>\n My phone’s screen suddenly started acting weird, with spotty touch inputs. I checked the screen and sides for any signs of water or moisture, but none were visible.<\/p>\n My guess is that water seeped through tiny gaps and reached the digitizer or flex cable, which eventually caused the display panel to misbehave.<\/p>\n I initially thought the IP67 rating failed because I had dropped the Galaxy A54 a few times prior, and some internal parts had become loose. Or perhaps the rubber seal had deteriorated around the display and chassis. Who really knows?<\/p>\n However, I had been using a protective case for over a year, leaving little chance of those components failing.<\/p>\n Admittedly, that is not a good look for Samsung, especially given how heavily they advertise this device’s waterproofing.<\/p>\n Still, I let it pass and had the A54 fixed before trading it in for the Galaxy Z Fold 5.<\/p>\n Even pricey tech fails the real-world test<\/p>\n Now I start to question almost every durability claim<\/p>\n My ordeal did not end there.<\/p>\n I daily drove my Galaxy Z Fold 5 for a year, being extra protective of it despite its IPx8 water resistance rating.<\/p>\n During a weekend trip to a resort, I had the Z Fold 5 in my pocket while sitting on the baja ledge of the pool. The water was less than a foot deep, and I was not overly worried about accidentally dropping my foldable in it.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it slid out of my shorts pocket when I was about to lie in the reclining lounge. It fully submerged and hit the tiles, but the water slightly dampened the impact.<\/p>\n Initially, the physical drop to the shallow pool bottom was my biggest concern because I knew the Fold 5 was IPX8-rated, which supposedly provides protection from submersion up to 5 feet in fresh water for 30 minutes, as Samsung states on its website.<\/p>\n That is on par with many standard smartphones, despite missing a dust rating that Samsung has yet to crack for its foldable smartphones<\/a>.<\/p>\n I quickly rinsed it with fresh water, knowing the pool contained a mixture of salt and chemicals that could corrode internal parts.<\/p>\n The sad part is that I never expected my Fold 5 to die on me after that minor water exposure.<\/p>\n After quickly drying it with a hairdryer in the room, my phone worked normally for a day. However, when I tried to charge it the next day, it started acting up and overheating.<\/p>\n I turned it off and applied drying measures again to ensure any trapped moisture was cleared. I was out of luck. It refused to turn on and became fully unresponsive.<\/p>\n Eventually, I had to get it fixed, which cost me an arm and a leg. I sold it shortly after and switched to a Google Pixel device.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n
\n ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/galaxy-z-flip-6-vs-fold-6-outside-rear-cameras.jpg\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t6 reasons why I’ll never buy a folding phone again
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"OnePlus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/img_8819.jpg\")
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\n ![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/samsung-galaxy-watch-pro-5-ticwatch-pro-5-google-pixel-watch-lifestyle-01.jpg\"\/)
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![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/pixel-10-pro-xl-hand-beachjpg.JPG\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n![\"OnePlus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/oneplus-15-black-sandstone-left-back.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Render](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/google-pixel-9-pro-xl.png\"){kind=tracking}
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