OnePlus 5 Appears to Be Pretty Water Resistant, but Don't Dunk It in Water

By Sanket Vijayasarathy | Updated: 30 June 2017 17:13 IST

Highlights

Reports say OnePlus 5 is water resistant
Teardowns reveal lack of adhesive or rubber seal around the phone
OnePlus didn’t claim water resistance as a "precaution"

When OnePlus launched its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 5, a lot of the questions prior to the unveiling were finally answered. Yes, it has a dual rear camera setup. Yes, it comes with an 8GB RAM variant. However, the one thing the OnePlus failed to confirm was whether the smartphone is water resistant leading everyone to believe that it wasn't. However, new reports now suggest that the OnePlus 5 has some amount of water resistance. Notably though, since the company has not officially announced this, it certainly doesn't want you to put the OnePlus 5 near water, and damage from water will not be covered by warranty.

Fandroid cites multiple reports to claim the OnePlus 5 appears to be surviving dunk tests pretty well, but as we mentioned, readers to note the smartphone is not officially certified. Had the OnePlus 5 passed through certification then it would have received an IP rating, similar to the IP67 rating of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, or the IP68 rating of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Fandroid speculates that the OnePlus 5 has an IP67-level of protection, but that the company (like Apple did with the iPhone 6s) chose not to publicly reveal this information.

Now, this doesn't exactly mean that OnePlus 5 owners should take the apparent water resistance for granted. Most water resistant phones have a combination of adhesive and rubber seals around the phone to prevent water from seeping in. In a recent teardown of the OnePlus 5 by JerrRigEverything, the YouTuber found that the flagship has no such adhesive between the display and the frame, nor a rubber seal around the SIM tray. So, while it may survive the occasional glass of water, it's still a risk best avoided altogether.

While there hasn't been any water-related issues as of now, the flagship has been in the news recently for other reasons. Owners of the OnePlus 5 had earlier reported of "jelly scrolling effect" that creates a stretchy visual effect when scrolling, and OnePlus is now claiming that the effect is normal and not a cause for concern.