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Samsung seals up S7 Active's waterproofing flaw

Samsung says it found and fixed a problem that caused some Galaxy S7 Active phones -- including two of CNET's -- to drown despite its water-resistant claims.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.
Jessica Dolcourt
Watch this: The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active failed our pool test

Hey, remember when our Samsung Galaxy S7 Active drowned after a dip in the pool despite its water-resistant promise? Samsung has now said it's found --and fixed -- a flaw in the production line that caused some S7 Active units to sustain water damage and die, even though the phone is rated to sustain full submersion in about 5 feet of water (1.5 meters) for up to 30 minutes.

In response to CNET's four waterproofing tests, and the two failures shared by Consumer Reports, which first found the issue, Samsung emailed CNET the following statement:

"We discovered an isolated issue to a production line that exclusively manufacturers the Galaxy S7 Active. The issue has been resolved. We have received very few customer inquiries and any owner with water damage will receive a replacement under our standard limited warranty."

Samsung's Galaxy S7 Active takes a dunk in the pool...and then dies

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Samsung offers a yearlong warranty, and lays out water submersion guidelines for phones in the S7 family online -- that's the S7, S7 Edge and S7 Active.

We reduced our S7 Active rating from 4.5 stars to 4 stars (an 8.8 to an 8.0) to reflect our further dunk-test results (the Active passed our initial water test). We plan to run another test on a new, out-of-the-box device to see if Samsung was indeed able to correct the issue.