What IP68 Actually Means: Phone Water Resistance, Decoded

IP68 does not mean your phone can go swimming. It means a lab dunked a brand-new, undamaged unit in still, clean, room-temperature fresh water, at a depth and duration the manufacturer chose, and it survived. That’s a much narrower claim than the marketing photos of phones underwater at the beach suggest.

The rating comes from IEC 60529, an international standard for how well a sealed enclosure keeps out dust and water. “IP” stands for Ingress Protection, and the two digits after it each mean something specific — the first covers solid particles, the second covers liquids. IP68 is the combination most flagship and upper-mid-range phones carry today, but “IP68” on a Samsung and “IP68” on an iPhone aren’t tested to identical depths or durations, because the standard lets each manufacturer set its own claim.

None of this means the rating is meaningless. It just means the gap between “passed a lab test” and “safe to drop in a pool” is bigger than most people assume — and that gap is exactly where phones with a perfectly good IP68 rating still end up with water damage.

How the IP rating actually works

Two digits, two separate tests. The first digit (0-6) rates protection against solid objects and dust — 6 is the top score, meaning the enclosure is completely dust-tight. The second digit (0-9K) rates protection against liquids, on its own separate scale, running from “no protection” up through direct high-pressure, high-temperature jets at the very top.

Phones almost always advertise IP6X for dust (dust-tight) and IPX8 for water (protected against immersion beyond 1 meter). Put together, that’s IP68 — dust-tight, and rated for immersion deeper than a meter for some declared length of time. See GSMArena’s glossary entry on IP ratings for the full digit-by-digit breakdown.

Here’s the detail that trips people up: IPX7 is a fixed test defined by the standard itself — 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, no exceptions. IPX8 is different. The standard requires the manufacturer to declare their own depth and duration beyond that, tested under conditions of their choosing. That’s why IP68 isn’t one uniform guarantee across every phone that carries the label — it’s a floor, with each brand setting its own ceiling above it.

What the IP68 test actually simulates

The test is about as controlled as lab conditions get: still water, not moving water. Clean fresh water, not seawater or chlorinated pool water. Room temperature, not a hot spring or a kettle. And a specific depth and time the manufacturer submits for certification — not however deep you feel like taking it. Because manufacturers set their own depth and duration, real-world claims vary more than people expect:

• iPhone 15 (base model) — rated for 1.5 meters, up to 30 minutes.
• iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, and the 16 and 17 series — rated deeper, at 4 to 6 meters for up to 30 minutes, depending on the exact model.
• Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra — dust-tight and rated for 1.5 meters, up to 30 minutes.

Both companies use the same IP68 label under similar still-water test conditions, but the depth claim behind that label differs by model and generation. If depth matters to you, check the specific claim for your exact model rather than assuming “IP68” means the same number everywhere.

Why real-world water is a different problem entirely

The lab test and your actual life rarely match up. A few things the IP68 certification does not cover, based on manufacturers’ own guidance:

• Saltwater and pool water — both are explicitly excluded from what the rating covers. Salt and chlorine are more corrosive than the fresh water used in certification, and can degrade seals over time in ways the test never accounts for.
• Soapy water, oils, sunscreen, perfumes — these change water’s surface tension and chemistry enough that they’re called out separately as unsafe.
• Saunas, steam rooms, and hot springs — heat and humidity outside the room-temperature test conditions.
• Moving water, currents, or high-pressure sources — waterfalls, pressure washers, or strong water jets exceed what “still water” testing accounts for, even if the depth looks similar on paper.

Samsung’s own support documentation spells this out directly, listing saltwater, pool water, soapy water, oils, perfumes, sunscreen, and high-pressure water sources as conditions the water resistance rating doesn’t cover. Apple’s guidance is built on the same premise — its testing uses still, clean, fresh water, and its own documentation is clear that resistance isn’t designed for or tested against those other conditions.

Why IP68 phones still get water damage

An IP68 rating describes a brand-new phone in a lab, not a two-year-old phone that’s been dropped a few times. Seals compress, gaskets wear, and adhesive weakens with age and physical shock. Both Apple and Samsung state, in their own support material, that water resistance isn’t permanent and can decrease over time due to normal wear, drops, or disassembly — including something as simple as a screen repair by an unauthorized shop.

The charging port is the other weak point that rarely gets enough attention. USB-C ports on IP68 phones can still trap moisture, and charging while the port is even slightly wet risks corrosion on the contacts over repeated exposure. This is exactly why Apple and Google both build liquid-detection systems into their phones that block charging when moisture is sensed in the port — a feature that only exists because wet-charging damage on IP68-rated phones is a real, recurring problem, not a hypothetical one.

Put simply: the rating is a snapshot of a new device under lab conditions, not a lifetime guarantee that travels with the phone through drops, age, and repairs.

IP68 vs IP69 vs no rating at all

A newer rating, IP69 (sometimes written IP69K), has started showing up on a handful of phones. It originated as an industrial standard for withstanding high-pressure, high-temperature water jets — think factory-floor cleaning equipment, not beach holidays. The OnePlus 15 carries an IP69K rating alongside its usual IP68 certification, and a few other China-based brands have added the same combined rating on select 2025-2026 models. It’s a real step up in tested resilience, though it’s still concentrated in a handful of phones rather than being an industry norm — plenty of current flagships from Samsung and Apple stick with IP68 alone.

At the other end, plenty of budget phones in India skip formal water-resistance certification, or advertise only a lower tier like IP52/IP53/IP54 (“splash resistant” — light spray, not immersion). Industry tracking suggests this is genuinely changing: the share of budget-segment phones with only IP52-54 ratings or none has been dropping as more mid-range models add proper IP68 or IP69 certification, but a real chunk of the sub-₹15,000 segment still ships with no formal IP testing at all. Certification costs money and adds design constraints, so cheaper phones skip it most often.

None of that means an unrated budget phone is fragile — it just means nobody tested and certified its water resistance, so you should treat it as having none until proven otherwise. If you’re buying secondhand, this is one more thing worth checking alongside battery health and charging speed — see our used phone buying checklist and fast charging standards guide for the rest of what to verify.

Warranty: IP68 doesn’t mean “covered”

This is the part that catches people off guard. Every major manufacturer’s standard warranty explicitly excludes liquid damage, regardless of the phone’s IP rating. Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus all state this in their own warranty terms — an IP68 rating is a resistance claim, not an insurance policy.

Service centers can typically tell if a phone has had liquid exposure, often through liquid contact indicators built into the device, and that finding can void warranty coverage even if the phone still turns on and appears to work fine. So the practical reality is: your IP68 phone might genuinely survive a dunk in the sink, but if something else goes wrong with it later and a service center finds signs of past liquid exposure, that repair may not be covered — regardless of the official rating on the spec sheet.

If water damage protection matters to you specifically, that’s a conversation for phone insurance, not warranty — most standard manufacturer warranties were never designed to cover it in the first place. Our phone insurance vs warranty guide breaks down what each actually pays for in India.

Comparing the ratings that matter for phones

FAQ

Can I take my IP68 phone swimming?

Not into a pool or the sea, no — chlorine and salt both fall outside what the rating covers and can degrade seals faster than fresh water would. An accidental drop into a lake or a bucket of clean water is closer to what the rating is actually built for.

Can I shower or use my phone in the rain with an IP68 rating?

Rain and brief splashes are well within what IP68 is designed for. A hot shower is murkier territory — the heat and steam sit outside the room-temperature, still-water conditions the certification is tested under, so it’s a reasonable everyday risk but not a guaranteed-safe one.

Why did my IP68 phone get water damage from a small splash?

A few likely reasons: the phone is older and its seals have worn down, it’s been dropped before (which can compromise the seal even without visible cracks), or the water got into the charging port specifically, which is a common failure point regardless of the phone’s overall IP rating.

Does IP68 mean my warranty covers water damage?

No. Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus all exclude liquid damage from standard warranty coverage, independent of the IP rating on the box. The rating describes resistance under lab conditions; it isn’t a repair guarantee.

Is a phone with no IP rating actually less durable than one with IP68?

Not necessarily in every other respect, but specifically for water, yes — treat it as having no tested water resistance at all. The absence of a rating usually means the manufacturer didn’t test or certify it, not that it secretly performs fine.

Bottom line

IP68 is a real, useful lab certification, not a marketing gimmick — but it covers a narrower set of conditions than most people assume, and it fades as the phone ages, gets dropped, or gets repaired. Treat it as solid protection against everyday accidents like rain and splashes, not as a green light for pools, the sea, or long dunks. And keep in mind that even a perfect IP68 rating won’t help you at the service counter, since liquid damage typically falls outside warranty regardless of what the spec sheet says.