With just days away from launching the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus is going all out in hyping them up, so much so that it dunked its upcoming flagship in a bucket of water to show how resistant it is to water.
After that, the smartphone maker is warning users against imitating it, making it into a don't-try-this-at-home kind of thing.
OnePlus 7 IP Rating
OnePlus tweeted a video teaser of its next-generation handset where it dropped it in water. In the clip, it said that "water resistant ratings for phones cost you money" and that it "bought something less expensive instead" or, in other words, a bucket.
This means that the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro aren't IP certified. It even says so in the fine print. Put differently, the company simply didn't go through formal procedures to get IP ratings for their phones, but they do have water resistance.
In the same video, it also makes it clear that the phones are "water resistant under optimal test conditions" and that it "makes no guarantees regarding water/liquid resistance." Water damage also isn't covered in the warranty, just like the case with other companies that produce devices with an IP67 or IP68 rating.
Marketing Stunt Gone Wrong?
Some users didn't find the clip to be clever. Some pointed out that OnePlus phones have started getting more expensive and that they should be IP certified considering their price points.
I honestly don't care about water resistance, I keep my phone dry personally. But bragging that you don't get ip rating so it will cost less, but price your phone like other manufacturer's flagship with ip rating is... Arguable to say the least. — Yohan (@FroggoBaggins) May 3, 2019
I think $800 is enough of my money to get ip rating — X Gamer (@XGamer760) May 3, 2019
In a blog post, OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei explains that an IP rating doesn't express the company's "focus on your real experience." Instead, it opted for a "relatable video" that better depicts the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro's water resistance in real life.
Also, Pei clarifies that they're not encouraging users to drop the phones in water.
"[T]his is not a bucket challenge, and we certainly don't want all of you to try to drop your OnePlus 7 Pro in a bucket," he wrote.
Do IP Ratings Even Matter?
IP67 and IP68 are the common ratings among the current brood of smartphones. The former means that devices can survive a depth of up to 1 meter or 3.28 feet for 30 minutes, while the latter just means they can be submerged deeper up to 1.5 meters or 4.92 feet for the same amount of time. That doesn't take into account real-world factors such as drops into salt water or soda spills, though.
An IP certification is more like a guarantee that experts have conducted tests to figure out up to what degree of water resistance a device has. To put things into perspective, OnePlus is making it obvious that the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro have some level of resistance to water with its ad, but it isn't clear just how much they can take before damages occur.
