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HzO 'Talking to Apple' About Water Blocking Technology for Future iPhones

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Apr 12, 2001
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Pocket-lint reports that Utah company HzO, which was showing off its "WaterBlock" technology for providing water resistance to mobile devices at last week's CES, has said it is talking to Apple about the possibility of including the technology in future iPhones and other devices. Samsung is also reportedly "excited" by the technology.
"We showed the Samsung Chairman the technology with a Samsung Galaxy S that we had coated with HZO and he couldn't believe his eyes," a representative of the company told us. "Samsung is really excited by the tech."

The company has told us that they are also talking to Apple as well, hoping to be able to let Apple make the iPhone 5 waterproof.

"We expect HZO to be in next season's phones," HZO told Pocket-lint rather confidently.
Click to expand...
The WaterBlock technology, which consists of a coating applied to interior device components to help them resist water damage, is performed during the manufacturing process and is invisible to the user.

hzo_iphone.jpg
It is difficult to know how serious the company's discussions with Apple are, and any substantial conversations would almost certainly be subject to non-disclosure arrangements. In addition, expo floor exhibitors are of course primarily interested in promoting their products, and any mention of discussions of partnerships with major companies is a good way to generate publicity.

Consequently, it is impossible to put any measure of weight on speculation that Apple might adopt HzO technology, but it does appear to be an interesting possibility for mobile device manufacturers seeking to improve the durability of their products.

Article Link: HzO 'Talking to Apple' About Water Blocking Technology for Future iPhones
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/16/hzo-talking-to-apple-about-water-blocking-technology-for-future-iphones/
TimUSCA

TimUSCA

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Mar 17, 2006
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This is an example of a company that would make sense for Apple to just outright buy. The iPhone being waterproof would be a *major* selling point.
 
SidewaysTakumi

SidewaysTakumi

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Aug 5, 2010
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I think this would also be awesome. Many people I know seem to shy from smart phones in general because they feel they are "fragile." Maybe it's the rural area?

But I'm wondering if this coating has heat dissipation issues?
 
E

emvath

macrumors regular
Jan 5, 2009
223
187
This would have saved me a good chunk of money a year ago. :eek:

Please include this apple (and everyone else)!
 
dgree03

dgree03

macrumors 65816
Jan 8, 2009
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0
Why wait?

http://www.liquipel.com/

Its already being done, I am going to send my wifes phone to try it out! Women who put phones in their back pocket, then us the bathroom, guess where the phone ends up?
 
jclardy

jclardy

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Oct 6, 2008
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I wonder how waterproof this stuff can make a phone. I am wondering because it would be a cool feature to allow underwater videos to be taken, but I am guessing it can only be submerged a few feet.

Of course, you would have to already have the camera app open as I don't think the capacitive touchscreen will work while submerged.
 
D

daxomni

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2009
457
6
TimUSCA said:
This is an example of a company that would make sense for Apple to just outright buy. The iPhone being waterproof would be a *major* selling point.
Click to expand...
It makes even more sense to buy them outright and then sit on the patents while selling new phones to anyone with warranty-killing water damage.
 
nikhsub1

nikhsub1

macrumors 68030
Jun 19, 2007
2,593
2,570
mmmm... jessica.'s beer...
For those of you that think this is so 'revolutionary' you need to just google conformal coatings. This has been done for years, and is nothing new, exciting or groundbreaking at this point. I have been water cooling computers for almost 15 years now and have used conformal coatings you can spray out of a can that work just as the video with the iphone. I LOL'd at "these guys just hit the lottery" :D Trust me, Apple has known about conformal coatings forever, they are not stupid and like I said it is nothing new. There are potential downsides, one is that it can help to retain heat...
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
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I’d be a little afraid to be an early-adopter manufacturer, and discover the 1-in-1000 problems (smell? fire? warranty/legal headaches? demons?) multiplied by millions of users... but I hope there aren’t any such issues, and that everything starts to use this!

I’m surprisingly compelled to put my iPhone in the toilet, and right now, it's impractical for me to do so. :(
 
Dr McKay

Dr McKay

macrumors 68040
Aug 11, 2010
3,430
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This would be incredible, too many iPhones have died at the hands of water. A friend of mines died when it was in his gym bag, and his water bottle leaked.
 
BobbyRond

BobbyRond

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
139
0
The Hague, The Netherlands
Cool as this technology may be, there will most certainly be people who consider charging your electronic device in the bathtub is a safe thing to do...

Maybe something the tech companies should also take into account... :D
 
Finiksa

Finiksa

macrumors 6502a
Feb 23, 2003
595
13
Australia
This is nothing new. Search for Golden Shellback a company that was trying to market this in 2008. The technology works incredibly well and it has for years.

These are just various vapour deposit polymer coating processes that companies are trying to brand and mass market. These technologies have been used for years to waterproof medical electronics.
 
iSee

iSee

macrumors 68040
Oct 25, 2004
3,539
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"We expect HZO to be in next season's phones," HZO told...
Click to expand...
I think this means there is almost no chance Hz0 will have anything to do with the iPhone 5.

Apple's partners keep their mouths shut. HzO surely knows this. So this sounds like a desperate ploy to get attention from other manufacturers.
 
rick snagwell

rick snagwell

macrumors 68040
Feb 12, 2011
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alta loma, ca
dgree03 said:
Why wait?

http://www.liquipel.com/

Its already being done, I am going to send my wifes phone to try it out! Women who put phones in their back pocket, then us the bathroom, guess where the phone ends up?
Click to expand...

good call. this place is only an hour away from me. thanks!

----------
iSee said:
I think this means there is almost no chance Hz0 will have anything to do with the iPhone 5.

Apple's partners keep their mouths shut. HzO surely knows this. So this sounds like a desperate ploy to get attention from other manufacturers.
Click to expand...

agreed.
 
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