New iPhones survive an hour underwater in waterproofing test

iPhones underwater
Apple's new iPhones undergo a waterproofing test.

One spec Apple hasn't mentioned while promoting the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus is the water resistance rating of the handsets. Brave YouTuber Zach Straley has run a dunking test so you don't have to.

In a video posted online on Friday both of the 2015 iPhones spend an hour underwater with no adverse effects. The camera, 3D Touch, the Home button and everything else still appear to work just fine.

Straley later confirmed on Twitter that the Lightning port and the headphone socket are still operating as normal as well. It appears the two handsets are more waterproof than anyone realised.

Don't try this at home

Of course without any official word from Apple we can't recommend you try this at home - just because these handsets still work doesn't mean yours are going to. You dunk your own phone at your own risk.

This could be the first evidence of the waterproofing technology Apple patented back in March: it uses a thin hydrophobic coating to keep all of the internal circuitry working as normal. It's hard to know for sure until the manufacturer confirms or denies it.

The Apple Watch has also been shown standing up to water surprisingly well. It seems Apple's 2015 gadgets are designed to resist a decent amount of splashing and submerging, even if the company isn't shouting about it.

Via PhoneArena

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.