Confused about IP-rating of my Samsung Galaxy S9

[pythonmegapixel]

I've just bought a second-hand Samsung Galaxy S9 and apparently it has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating (I've never actually had an IP-rated phone before), which according to Wikipedia means it should be able to survive being immersed in a metre of water. The problem is, my example has the microphone/speaker holes and the ports (remember when flagship phones still had more than one?) completely open - there's no plugs or covers or anything to prevent water getting into the audio output jack for example. Also the original accessories were not in the box when I bought it. There is the odd scratch on the edge and a mark where a tiny bit of the paint round the edges has been scuffed off - but I can't see that being a huge impact.

 

Am I seriously OK (in theory) just to submerge this intricately designed, expensive piece of electronic hardware with exposed contacts and holes into fairly deep water without any additional protection? Or at the very least, will it survive not putting it away if I'm using it outdoors and it starts raining?

 

Or is the IP rating only valid with some kind of additional outer case or protector which I didn't get because I bought it second-hand?

[AndreiArgeanu]

Yes. It should be perfectly fine in fresh water. In salt water it could end up damaging the seals the longer it's in water as it corrodes. Samsung phones at least even detect moisture so if you plug in the charger it'll tell you there's water in the port and it won't charge. If you look at teardowns of these phones you can actually see that the ports and holes have rubber gaskets to prevent water ingress into the phone.

[BondiBlue]

18 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Am I seriously OK (in theory) just to submerge this intricately designed, expensive piece of electronic hardware with exposed contacts and holes into fairly deep water without any additional protection? Or at the very least, will it survive not putting it away if I'm using it outdoors and it starts raining?

In theory yes, it's fine. Personally I wouldn't take it very deep on purpose, but it should be fine. I have washed my phone off in the sink without issue (accidentally spilled milk on it from a cereal bowl - oops), but it's not something I would do regularly. 

18 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

The problem is, my example has the microphone/speaker holes and the ports (remember when flagship phones still had more than one?) completely open - there's no plugs or covers or anything to prevent water getting into the audio output jack for example.

The Galaxy S9 does not use any external port covers to achieve the IP rating it has. The phone did not come with any in the box - it simply doesn't need them. I own four Galaxy S9s, and each one of them has survived some sort of water related incident in the past. 

18 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Or is the IP rating only valid with some kind of additional outer case or protector which I didn't get because I bought it second-hand?

The Galaxy S9 did not come with any sort of case. The bare phone is all that came in the box, along with a USB-A to USB-C cable, a USB-A power adapter, the manuals/warranty information, and a set of earphones.