Apple says the iPhone 12 is water resistant, but is it secretly waterproof?
We're gonna find out and put it to the test every year.
Apple increases the water resistance rating off the iPhone, and the iPhone 12 is no exception.
All of the new iPhone 12 models through from the many all the way to the pro Max R rated I P 68 which means that they could go down to 6 m underwater for up to 30 minutes.
But if you remember, we've already tested the iPhone 11 on before that the iPhone 10 r and it turns up their way more water resistant than Apple gives them credit for.
So we're gonna go to the extreme in Lake Tahoe, Calif.
To test out the iPhone 12.
This is Brian Grouse, CEO of Mission Robotics, who makes this incredible underwater drone called Thesis, and we're gonna use it to water test the iPhone.
So myself, my two other co founders, we found admission robotics with the purpose of basically advancing marine technology for our A V so remotely ones where you're controlling it, as well as autonomous ones where they're doing their own missions that your pre planning on the vehicle for this test.
We basically built this contraption on the front here where we're able to put the phone in and hold it kind of a little bit away from the vehicle.
It's that way we can see the entire phone in the shot from the drone.
We've got a tether that goes to the surface, which is the yellow cord coming out the back.
And then that goes to a computer.
And then we've got application that gives you the live video feed, telemetry information.
And then you also using game pad controller in order to flying around time for the first dive.
And we're testing the I P 68 claim, which is 6 m of water for 30 minutes.
Yeah.
Looks like this phone is so brand new.
It's bringing up all of those prompts that show up when you first start using it like this.
Do not disturb while driving.
Prompt.
Thank you.
After 30 minutes underwater, let's run through a Siris of tests to see if everything is working as expected.
First, let's check the touch screen.
It seems to be working just fine.
The volume Raqqa also looks to be fine as well.
Responding to presses next is the cameras will snap a photo on the back on the front just to check on.
Before we put the phone underwater, I did record a quick voice memo to play back just to see what the speaker sounded like after being dunked.
Jim took 123 as I 12 and and no surprises here.
It does sound a bit muffled.
So the iPhone 12 clearly met the I P 68 claim on in very cold water, too.
But the only thing left to do now take it to the extreme.
We're taking the iPhone down to 20 m now.
This is more than three times the rate of depth.
Plus, the water is even colder down here, So this one is really pushing the limits.
So for testing purposes, that's another reason that we test here a lot is because it is fresh water.
So if you do get water into a vehicle and flood your electron ICS, they're normally salvageable versus fear in salt water.
It's not salvageable.
Yeah, I think after 30 minutes, the fine is still going strong.
Sorry, just for the sake of it.
Let's leave it a little bit longer.
After all, this'll is really outside the realm of real world testing.
[MUSIC]
All right, that is enough extreme testing for one day.
Let's run through those tests again.
The touch screen is working as expected,
[BLANK_AUDIO]
And the volume rocker is as well.
The cameras look good and we took another few shots just to make sure.
[SOUND] And the voice memo again sounds a little bit muffled.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Which is no surprise after going so deep on the second dunk.
So it looks like the iPhone 12 lives to fight another day, but we're not done just yet.
[MUSIC]
Okay, it's been 72 hours since we dunked the iPhone 12 in Lake Tahoe.
So I did wanna run through a couple tests to make sure that everything was still working as expected.
Looking at the phone, just straight out of the lake, it's just been sitting to dry.
It does look really good but I can immediately notice there is a little bit of fogging on the front facing camera and also on the two rear cameras.
Now obviously the water temperature in Lake Tahoe was very, very cold.
So it's not a surprise that that has happened especially now it's sort of come to temperature.
In a more normal climates, so I wanted to first up see if the phone will take a charge.
No lightning cable.
Okay, let's take a look and see what happens.
Now I did power the phone off and make sure it was completely dry before plugging in this cable.
Now, I'm expecting the battery to be completely depleted given that it was so cold.
So, All right, we're seeing the Apple logo show up now.
Let's see what happens next.
Okay, so, immediately we are seeing a diagnostic screen pop up, which I've actually never seen before on the iPhone.
So, let's hit start diagnostics to see what happens.
Okay, so, it's not letting me do anything in diagnostics, because I think that is just for Apple support.
So, let's see if it gives me the prompt next time.
I have a feeling though, that I might need to restore this fine.
Luckily there was nothing on it except for those photos which we already backed up.
Okay, the Apple logo is showing up again.
Play some hold music while we're waiting.
[MUSIC]
The diagnostic screen has showed up again and hit exit and see what happens.
[MUSIC]
All right, we're back on the diagnostic screen so it's not looking promising.
So I'm gonna try a hard reset and now the battery has a little bit more life in it.
Let's see what happens.
[MUSIC]
All right back on the diagnostic screen.
I am gonna try plugging it into a laptop and see what happens.
See if I can reset everything and get it back to working condition.
[MUSIC]
After plugging it into Mac, I can immediately see a prompt that's giving me the option to either update the phone or restore the phone.
So I think the quickest way to get to this is just to restore and start fresh and see what happens.
[MUSIC]
Okay, now, we just sit and wait.
I'm gonna make myself another cup of tea or another cup of coffee and I will see you whenever this is done.
[MUSIC]
All right, I've done a full reset of the phone, still juicing it of but doesn't look good.
It's still going through that diagnostics loop.
And I just can't seem to get out of it.
So, I think it's gone.
[LAUGH] Now that might be able to be recovered.
Get through, say the Genius Bar for example, but COVID and all that I will not be going to a store to be able to fix this.
So, I think we have a conclusion.
[MUSIC]
So, it looks like we drowned the iPhone 12.
Now important to note, is that it met the claim that Apple says in terms of water resistance, it went down to six meters to 30 minutes as per the IP 68 rating.
And important to note, Lake Tahoe is so cold, the water temperature was around 11 degrees Celsius at the six meter mark.
And, once it met the claim and it still worked perfectly fine as you saw, we've took it to the extreme and put it down three times.
It's right a depth.
So, it's no wonder this poor little guy isn't feeling so good now.
And of course the water gets cold.
The deeper you go down, it was around 10 degrees Celsius when it was at that 20 meter mark.
So, all in all if you put water on your iPhone or you dunk it by accident, it should be totally fine.
Just don't take it to the extremes like we did.
And of course, important to note is that water damage is not covered under warranty.
So please be careful, and leave the phone drownings to us.
[MUSIC]
We're gonna have to wait this guy out a little bit, aren't we [LAUGH].
This isn't fair.
[MUSIC]
Please don't knock over my computer bear.
Ahh that's a bad **** [UNKNOWN].
[CROSSTALK]
No, no, leave me my bag.
[MUSIC]
Well, that's a new one.
[MUSIC]
