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Samsung says "be patient" as it works to add dust resistance to its foldables

By Alan Friedman

Published: Jul 28, 2023, 9:53 PM

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Samsung says "be patient" as it works to add dust resistance to its foldables

The Ingress Protection (IP) rating for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 is X8. The 8 you might recognize as the number that indicates those phones have been tested and can be submerged in clear water to a depth of nearly 5 feet for as long as 30 minutes and emerge unscathed. Of course, that's in theory only because over time, this protection weakens. And you should ask yourself that if my phone really can spend 30 minutes submerged to nearly 5 feet, why does the warranty not cover water damage?

That, my friends, is a story for another day. Right now, we want to talk about the "X." No, not Twitter. The "X" is the first rating in the IPX8 assessment given to Sammy's two new foldables. That "X" means that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 are not resistant to dust. And this is an issue with foldable devices. The Motorola Razr+ and Razr (2023) are the only foldable models with any dust protection. But with an IP52 rating, when it comes to protection from water, the clamshells are protected from a light splash only.

The goal is to get foldables to the same IP68 rating that the best flagships offer. And that sounds like something that Samsung is working on according to the head of the company's Mobile eXperience unit, TM Roh. A translation from South Korea's BizWatch (via AndroidAuthority) has Roh saying, "We are well aware of consumer demand for dust proofing, and we are making various efforts to achieve this, but due to the nature of foldables, there are many moving parts, so dust proofing is difficult."

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Roh noted how the early versions of the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip didn't have any water resistance at all and now they garner an "8." So he is telling those looking to buy a new Galaxy Z foldable to "wait a little longer" until dust protection is offered for those phones.

Roh says that Samsung is looking to sell 20 foldables out of every 100 Galaxy smartphones rung up worldwide. The executive feels that this will be the year that this goal is met. In South Korea, Samsung says that it will sell 33 foldables for every 100 Galaxy phones sold. South Korea is one of the top markets for foldables and Roh says that this is why Samsung held this week's Unpacked event, which unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, in Seoul.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.