One of the more disappointing aspects of the OnePlus 6 is that it doesn’t have an IP rating – meaning there’s no guarantees regarding its water resistance. OnePlus has said that the phone is more water-resistant than its predecessors, but you’d still understandably be nervous about getting it wet. However, a teardown has revealed that there’s actually quite a lot of water resistance here.
iFixit has opened up the OnePlus 6 and found that there’s a rubber gasket in the SIM card tray, silicone seals surrounding the sockets on the motherboard, and gaskets surrounding the speaker grille, USB-C port and headphone port.
The site concludes that “we probably wouldn't jump into the pool with it, but it's nice to have a little protection that doesn't impede repair.” So it sounds like the OnePlus 6 will probably be able to survive a bit of rain, a spill or a very brief dunk in water – though as there’s no IP rating there’s no official guarantee of this.
Just don't break the screen
And speaking of repairs, iFixit gives the OnePlus 6 a score of 5/10 for the phone’s overall repairability, noting that the components can in many cases be individually replaced and the battery is easily accessible, but the display – which is likely to be the most commonly broken component – is trickier to access and repair.
It also seemingly loses points for having a glass back, making the phone more breakable in the first place than a metal or plastic handset, though this is in line with most recent flagships.
Still, while you’ll need to be careful not to smash it, and definitely shouldn’t take the OnePlus 6 swimming, it’s at least more resilient to water than you might have expected.
- The Honor 10 is another affordable flagship
