Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Reports suggesting that the up-and-coming iPhone 5 will be waterproof are probably wide of the mark, following recent revelations about a patent Apple has secured that allows the company to detect water damage in its gadgets.According to iPhone5rumor.net, the new patent could actually be bad news for Apple fans. The new patent – 8,210,032 – is not some kind of revolutionary new water-proofing measure, but rather a new innovation that allows Apple technicians to determine if one of its products was damaged due to being submerged in water, reports iPhone5rumor.net.
Dan Lim, editor of iPhone5rumor.net, explained what the new patent will likely mean to consumers:
“There have been claims that the iPhone 5 will be water proof. We believe that this is unlikely to be the case, as the new patent just secured by Apple has nothing to do with this.
“The patent has actually been designed to help Apple assess the reasons behind the malfunctioning of any of its products. Water exposure is one of the main reasons that its devices malfunction, hence verification of this is important for purposes such as assessing warranty claims.”
iPhone5rumor.net explained that the new water-detection mechanism involves using materials that react permanently when exposed to water. These materials will be incorporated inside all new Apple devices, giving inspectors a visual indicator of water damage to any product.
The patent states that the water detection device will be easily accessible to technicians. This is important because up until now, Apple has had no easy way of disputing consumer claims that their broken devices have not been exposed to water – something that the iPhone warranties do not cover. If, as expected, the iPhone 5 turns out not to be waterproof, consumers should take extra special care to ensure that their device does not become exposed to water.
Source: iPhone5rumor.net
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