In the updated support page, Sony states that you should not “use the device underwater” and that the IP68 rating given to recent Xperia handsets “was achieved in laboratory settings in standby mode.” Sony reiterated the language in the same support page, saying that its devices “are placed gently inside a container filled with tap water and lowered to a depth of 1.5 metres. After 30 minutes in the container, the device is gently taken out and its functions and features are tested.”
Related: Check out our hands-on previews of the Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia Z5 Compact, and the Xperia Z5
In other words, even though the IP68 rating means Sony’s phones can remain leak-proof in fresh water as deep as 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, this shift in wording means Sony never intended its devices to be used in such a manner, regardless of how it marketed them.
This sudden shift is somewhat jarring, seeing how Sony continually marketed its Xperia devices as being able to take pictures underwater, starting with the Xperia Z1. With this shift, there now exists quite the juxtaposition between Sony’s marketing and, well, reality, something that Sony could have trouble dealing with moving forward. After all, the crux of Xperia marketing was its waterproofing, and that seems to have left the table with this recent news.
Marketing aside, however, Sony is having trouble keeping its mobile business afloat. The company may have announced its newest line of Xperia smartphones during IFA 2015, but it may have to do more than that to get back in the black.
