Describes the construction materials, methods and finishes used by the manufacturer when building a phone.

As with the fashion world, every new season (or phone launch) introduces new or elaborately names colors. Kinda Blue anyone? With the color being influenced in its final appearance by those materials chosen.

Each material used has unique properties that are both advantageous and complimentary to the device but often come with limitations.

For example, a glass body allows radio waves to pass through and better facilitates wireless charging, but unless utilized properly, could make the phone more fragile.

Recent construction trends include the use of aluminium, glass and even ceramics.

In order to make the display as resilient as possible, many manufactures use Corning Gorilla Glass.

A devices ability to withstand dust and moisture is identified via a IP Rating.

IP Ratings

IP or Internal Protection Code/Ratings are an international standard that refer to the level of protection given to both foreign object intrusion and moisture.

The first digit in the rating refers to the intrusion protection and is rated from 0 (no special protection) through to 6 (No ingress of dust).

The second digit in the rating refers to the moisture protection and is rated from 0 (no protection) through to 8 (Immersion beyond 1m as specified by manufacture).

The Google Pixel 2 and iPhone 8 are IP67 certified. The 6 rating ensures ‘No ingress of dust’, whilst the 7 rating ensures ‘Immersion up to 1 meter in water’ with a time specified by the manufacturer (Google state 30 minutes for example).

The Samsung Galaxy S8 however is IP68 certified. Whilst this carries the same ingress/dust protection as the iPhone 8 and Google Pixel 2, the higher rating for moisture protection ensures that it can be immersed in up to 1.5 meter’s of water for 30 minutes.