Report: iPhone 6s, 6s Plus More Water-Resistant (Not Waterproof)

While there's been talk that the next iPhone might be completely waterproof—finally joining some of Apple's rivals whose flagship Android devices can survive a brief trip through a summer sprinkler—new reports seem to indicate that Apple is pretty close to a waterproof device already with its most recently released iPhones.

According to a new post from iFixit, the website that loves tearing apart anything and everything Apple (whether Apple wants them to or not), the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are more water-resistant than previous versions of the iPhone. We wouldn't recommend washing your new iPhone in the sink, but they're at least more protected from a little splish-splash—and, no, Apple isn't teasing this "feature" as part of its marketing at all.

"Of course, that was only a theory. But over the weekend some brave Apple fans introduced their new iPhones to a life aquatic. The phones didn't always emerge unscathed, but the overall trend is clear: the 6s and 6s Plus are dramatically less prone to liquid damage than their predecessors. (They aren't, of course, completely waterproof—so don't jump into a pool with them or anything," iFixit writes.

After disassembly, iFixti found that the new iPhones have a slightly larger frame—about 0.3 millimeters or so—that's designed to fit a small protective gasket. In addition, every single cable connection point on the iPhones' logic boards is surrounded by a small, silicon seal. That's the exact kind of setup one might use to protect an otherwise pretty fragile element of the phone, something that might corrode or short out when exposed to liquid.

However, what makes the new iPhones more water-resistant than waterproof is the fact that that Apple hasn't, for lack of a better word, plugged up other potential entry points for liquid on the device. Water (or soda, or whatever) will still get into your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus through the headphone jack or speaker, and possibly other locations as well.

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Your device might survive some liquid, but it's best you pretend as if you didn't read this article at all and your brand-new iPhone is just as (presumably) fragile as your last iPhone. That, or we hope you're keeping a lot of dry rice on standby (or something else that might absorb a little water, should the unthinkable happen).