OnePlus 9 range is likely to have a water resistance rating, but only on one model

One premium smartphone feature that OnePlus only recently started including is an official IP rating for dust and water resistance. In fact, so far only the OnePlus 8 Pro has such a rating, but it looks like the OnePlus 9 Pro will be the second model to.

Common sense suggests it would, since it’s unlikely OnePlus would remove the feature, but now Max Jambor (a leaker with a reasonable track record) has specifically said that the OnePlus 9 Pro will have the same IP68 rating as the OnePlus 8 Pro.

While there are a range of water tolerances that can fall under IP68, Jambor suggests that the OnePlus 9 Pro will be able to survive submersion to depths of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.

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No rating for the rest of the range

However, he adds that the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9E are unlikely to get any sort of water resistance rating, so the company seemingly won’t be extending it to the whole range. This also further suggests that the OnePlus 9E – a phone that we don’t really know anything about yet – will be lower end than the OnePlus 9 Pro.

If you were hoping for water resistance on one of these models though you might still be in luck, as OnePlus sometimes still adds water resistance to its phones that don’t have an IP rating, it’s just that getting them officially certified costs more, so it doesn’t bother doing this with cheaper models.

Of course, we won’t know for sure how water resistant the OnePlus 9 range is until the phones are announced – or perhaps until OnePlus starts teasing them in the run up to launch, as that’s another thing it often does. Either way, we probably won’t find out for a little while, as the OnePlus 9 range isn’t likely to land before March or April.