The Cupertino giant, Apple has submitted a patent application back in 2014 and it has now been officially published on the US Patent and Trademark Office’s website. The patent details on the company’s method of making devices water-resistant by applying a hydrophobic coating. Could this mean that a water-resistant iPhone is in the works?
Water damage is one of the top device killers and companies have been making water-resistant devices to prevent smartphones dying from being exposed to water. Sony might have already taken water-resistant measures, but it’s good to see that Apple is following suit – sort of. The company is trying to integrate water-resistant features into their device by using a hydrophobic coating method, much like the Sony Xperia Z3. However, instead of making the casing water-resistant, it will be applying the coating only on high voltage power components. The coating will be applied through a plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition (PACVD) process and this process will charge the surface of the substrate. Therefore, allowing the coating to bond to the charged surface.
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Not to mention, Tim Cook has also stated that the upcoming Apple Watch, which will be unveiled at its Spring Forward event, will have water-resistant features because he even wears it “in the shower”. The Samsung Galaxy S5 had water-resistant features and it even went all the way to mock Apple with its own ALS ice bucket challenge for the lack of water-resistant capabilities. Its successor however, the Samsung Galaxy S6 dropped the water-resistant feature.
Readers should take these news with a pinch of salt as patent applications get filed all the time but not many of them actually gets implemented into real devices. If this patented technology does make its way into Apple’s future products, which iDevice do you think will first be water-resistant?
[Source: 9to5mac]
