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IP Rating Explained in Detail

In this article, IP Rating Explained in detail. Here, we talk about What is IP Rating? What is the meaning of IP Rating Numbers?

These are common for phones, smartwatch, and other device manufacturers, let them know that their products are waterproof. At present, all major brands like Apple, Sony, Samsung are making waterproof smartphones in the industry.

Whenever we talk about whether the smartphones are waterproof or not, then we must have to cover one term which is IP Rating. So what is this IP rating all about? So the answer is, IP rating is an international standard that determines the degree of security of your equipment against water, dust and solid objects.

You may have heard sometime that iPhone X, iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy S8, Sony Xperia XZ1 all have IP rating. But Is the IP rating of all these devices are same? So the answer is no, the IP rating is not the same for all devices.

If we talk about iPhone or iPhone 8 then they have an IP rating of 67. On the other hand, if we talk about Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 8 or Sony Xperia XZ1, then they have an IP rating of 68.

What does IP mean? IP Rating Explained!

IP means Ingress Protection. In Simple words, this tells you how much the interior parts of your device can withstand with dust and water.

The first digit of the IP number tells you how much your device can withstand with solid substances. Mostly, you get to see 6 or 5 here. Where 5 means that it will not be able to prevent dust from entering your device completely. But it will definitely not reach any necessary interior equipment. This means dust will penetrate your device but will not be able to contact the internal equipment. On the other hand, 6 means that the dust will not be able to penetrate your device. It’s a Complete Protection Against Dust.

Note: Sometimes, IP Rating is also written as IPX8. This means that the company does not want to expose the dust rating.

Now let’s talk about the second digit of the IP number. The second digit of IP number tells us how much waterproof our device is.

Note: Nearly all mobile devices have waterproof IP ratings of 3 or 4. It means that the device will not get affected immediately when we spray water on it. Such as in the rain.

If the second digit of IP number is 5, then it means that it will save your device by at most 6.3mm water nozzle spraying in any direction on the device. If this digit is 6 then it tells that it will save your device when spraying with 12.5mm water nozzle in any direction on the device.

When does a smartphone is actually waterproof?

In reality, A smartphone is actually waterproof when the 2nd digit of IP Rating number is 7 or above. The number 7 means that under certain time the phone won’t be affected by 1-meter water.

Whereas, If this number is 8 then it means that your device can stay in more than 1 meter of water without any loss under a certain time.

The top number so far is 9. It means that your phone will not get affected if it is constantly submerged in the water under certain condition.

So this is all about IP ratings of smartphones. If we have missed any detail, then definitely tell us in the comment section below.