OnePlus Threw Its Phone Into Water, Then Said It Didn't Want You To

Companies really love to do dramatic and exciting things in their advertisements. After all, it’s what most consumers are looking for when they are trying to find the next thing to spend on. On May 4, OnePlus released a video that made quite a lot of people electrified.

Fine Prints

The teaser video posted was just the scene of what definitely is the company’s next flagship handset dropping in slow-motion down to a water bucket, splashing water beautifully everywhere from the impact. Then the tagline came on:

It’s not difficult to say that the company’s straight out telling everyone that its next phone will - to a certain degree - be water-resistant. Although the phone has not gone through any formal IP certification tests, it’s easy to interpret the meaning of the video.

But there is one big thing that can halt the entire flood of excitement in one second. For the last few seconds of the ad, you will notice that there is a tiny fine print at the very bottom of the video. It reads:

They are rather confident to boast about their phone’s water resistance capability, just like any other phone-makers, OnePlus doesn’t cover water damage in its limited warranty though.

Backlash

The campaign backfired. Instead of generating the much-needed hype, many OnePlus customers and even loyalists are disappointed. Most of them think that for a company whose prices have been going up recently, there are no reasons for them not to file for proper qualifications like others such as Samsung and Apple. The uproar was so great that Carl Pei - OnePlus co-founder - had to make a blog post addressing the video and the phone.

Pei wrote in the blog post. Although it is truly disappointing and a little bit skeptical at how OnePlus shirked from getting an IP certification for absolutely no logical reason at all. There were numerous endurance tests online that did show how older generation OnePlus can survive a dive into the water for a couple of seconds.

Just like the fine print suggested, Pei does not want customers to recreate the video by actually dunking their expensive phones into water.

Chain Breaking

OnePlus’ advertisement campaign - up to this point - has been going pretty well. This marketing blunder is just the error that broke the chain. In a market where most competitors are trying hard to keep their phones water-tight, another generation of OnePlus without a proper water resistant rating can surely be deeply disappointing to consumers.

Though it would not have been noticed or made a big deal out of if the failed ad above didn’t shine a bright spotlight onto the omission. The frustration and annoyance from fans are not without justice. For a phone that is expected to cost well over $700, it doesn’t speak up a lot about the company’s willing to ‘innovate’ and spend on a justifiable cost of business that other competitors had no problem paying.

Water resisting isn’t the only trend that the OnePlus 7 Pro lacks in comparison to competitors in the same pricing range. Wireless charging continues to be ignored by the company in spite of the fact that, for $50 more, you can get either a Samsung Galaxy S10e with all of the features and quality design or an iPhone XR offering the same range of features.

Is IP Rating Important, Anyway?

Pei is correct by saying that an IP rating is not really essential to the phone’s water resistance prowess. Having an IP67 rating just means that your phone can still function properly after being immersed in or 3.3 feet - or 1 meter - of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. And IP68 is a little bit better.

However, you must understand that all of these testings are done in a controlled laboratory environment. There are no actual guarantees that your phone could survive real-world situations like water splashes, falls into the water, or a dive into the toilet. Since this isn't actually a common consumer’s knowledge, many companies still like to boast about this rating.

Though at the end of the day, having a clear-cut rating can give the consumers an assurance that their phone wouldn’t leave them the moment it touches anything remotely liquid. The video did suggest that the OnePlus 7 Pro can withstand a good splash, just how hard you can splash it before it gives out is a complete mystery. And that is unnerving to a lot of people.

Set For May 14th Release

The OnePlus 7 Pro is planned for a release on May 14th. Though Pei suggested that this could be changed (Probably due to the backlash) in the future, maybe with the OnePlus 7T Pro.