Apple's iPhone 6s lineup quietly uses new gasket, silicone seals to greatly reduce water damage
Though Apple hasn't advertised improved water damage protection for its new iPhone 6s series, the company has silently added a new perimeter gasket around the 3D Touch Retina display, as well as new silicone seals to cable connectors, that greatly enhance the device's ability to keep liquids out.
Apple reworked the frame of the display on the new iPhone 6s to fit the new gasket, iFixit discovered in a closer look at the handset's internal components. To accommodate this gasket, Apple increased the lip on the perimeter of the handset's frame by 0.3 millimeters over its predecessor, the iPhone 6.
"One-third of a millimeter may not seem like much, but given how tight the iPhone's tolerances are nowadays, the change is big enough to see with the naked eye," the repair experts explained. "And it's almost certainly enough of a change that other components had to be subtly tweaked to match. Make no mistake, Apple gave this careful thought."
Digging even further, iFixit found that every cable on the iPhone 6s logic board is surrounded by a small silicone seal. These protect some of the parts that are most likely to fail when exposed to water, including the battery, display, Lightning port and buttons.
This concept was detailed in a patent application detailed by AppleInsider earlier this year, in which Apple described ways to use silicone seals to protect solder leads, connectors, and flex cables within an iPhone.
The findings were backed by a popular YouTube video from Zach Straley, where both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were placed in a shallow bowl of water for an hour. Once the hour was completed, both handsets were removed from the liquid and found to remain in proper working order.
While the iPhone 6s survived a shallow water test, a submersion in deeper water by iDeviceHelp found that the iPhone didn't fare as well, potentially helping to explain why Apple hasn't advertised the enhancements made in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Revelations about improved water resistance in the iPhone 6s lineup come on the heels of a recent rumor suggesting Apple plans to utilize an even more comprehensive waterproof design for next year's so-called "iPhone 7." It was said that prototype next-generation iPhones feature design improvements intended to keep out both water and dust, suggesting Apple is toying with a more "ruggedized" handset for a 2016 refresh.
Apple reworked the frame of the display on the new iPhone 6s to fit the new gasket, iFixit discovered in a closer look at the handset's internal components. To accommodate this gasket, Apple increased the lip on the perimeter of the handset's frame by 0.3 millimeters over its predecessor, the iPhone 6.
"One-third of a millimeter may not seem like much, but given how tight the iPhone's tolerances are nowadays, the change is big enough to see with the naked eye," the repair experts explained. "And it's almost certainly enough of a change that other components had to be subtly tweaked to match. Make no mistake, Apple gave this careful thought."
Digging even further, iFixit found that every cable on the iPhone 6s logic board is surrounded by a small silicone seal. These protect some of the parts that are most likely to fail when exposed to water, including the battery, display, Lightning port and buttons.
This concept was detailed in a patent application detailed by AppleInsider earlier this year, in which Apple described ways to use silicone seals to protect solder leads, connectors, and flex cables within an iPhone.
The findings were backed by a popular YouTube video from Zach Straley, where both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were placed in a shallow bowl of water for an hour. Once the hour was completed, both handsets were removed from the liquid and found to remain in proper working order.
While the iPhone 6s survived a shallow water test, a submersion in deeper water by iDeviceHelp found that the iPhone didn't fare as well, potentially helping to explain why Apple hasn't advertised the enhancements made in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Revelations about improved water resistance in the iPhone 6s lineup come on the heels of a recent rumor suggesting Apple plans to utilize an even more comprehensive waterproof design for next year's so-called "iPhone 7." It was said that prototype next-generation iPhones feature design improvements intended to keep out both water and dust, suggesting Apple is toying with a more "ruggedized" handset for a 2016 refresh.
Comments
If this can eliminate even a fraction of customers coming into the stores for repairs or claims, this is a very good thing.
That fraction will be significant, as someone I know who works in a repair shops says that the vast majority of people bring in phones with water damage, mostly coming from phones that fell into toilets.
Great. Took them long enough.
That fraction will be significant, as someone I know who works in a repair shops says that the vast majority of people bring in phones with water damage, mostly coming from phones that fell into toilets.
I wonder what the percentage of "flushed" vs. "unflushed" recoveries is. I'm glad I don't repair phones!
Looks like a real world experiment with some design concepts.
I think that's the number two phone damage problem. First being cracked screens.
Good idea to not advertise ANY water resistance or waterproofing. All that would do is motivate the #gate whores to redouble their efforts.
Apple reworked the frame of the display on the new iPhone 6s to fit the new gasket, iFixit discovered in a closer look at the handset's internal components. To accommodate this gasket, Apple increased the lip on the perimeter of the handset's frame by 0.3 millimeters over its predecessor, the iPhone 6.
"One-third of a millimeter may not seem like much, but given how tight the iPhone's tolerances are nowadays, the change is big enough to see with the naked eye," the repair experts explained. "And it's almost certainly enough of a change that other components had to be subtly tweaked to match. Make no mistake, Apple gave this careful thought."
And yet no pictures to show this change that is "big enough to see with the naked eye"?
If my phone had number-two damage, I'm not sure I'd want it repaired.
That case gasket is very tiny and thin. I wonder how it is put in place during assembly? Robots or human? Seem that such a thing would be very difficult to handle and install correctly every time.
Stop shitting bricks then
Somebody knows their shit!
If my phone had number-two damage, I'm not sure I'd want it repaired.
That was actually my question - whether the phones were recovered from clear water, yellow water, brown water, red water, white water, green water or a mixture thereof.
This is why Apple switched to children assemblers...tiny hands. The 17 cents an hour had nothing to do with the decision.
That fraction will be significant, as someone I know who works in a repair shops says that the vast majority of people bring in phones with water damage, mostly coming from phones that fell into toilets.
Some people can't be trusted to to to the toilet!
And I know people that have done this. Women, not just men with phone/backpocket issues!
And yes, this looks like "anti-toilet / drink spillage" technology.
Dunno why Apple don't just do the hydrophobic nanocoating that other phones do though. Must affect display quality or wear off or something.
That case gasket is very tiny and thin. I wonder how it is put in place during assembly? Robots or human? Seem that such a thing would be very difficult to handle and install correctly every time.
It might be applied as a liquid that sets?
If my phone had number-two damage, I'm not sure I'd want it repaired.
The humour here is really going down the toilet.Surely you jest, but in some cases that's entirely true. If I remember correctly Wilson got caught using child labor because they did a better job assembling balls with their little hands.
Water proofing will continue to get better with iPhones and will also never be advertised by Apple; just like the many other things that they don't advertise that users should never be making a phone-buying decisions based on.
When you see a company like Samsung bragging about 3 GB of RAM and Waterproofing...run as fast as you can in the other direction.
On Monday, Tim Cook did not say, "Customers are loving the additional RAM and additional water resistance!"
LOL.