Samsung

Samsung in court over misleading Galaxy Phone ads showing water resistance

Damien Wilde | Jul 4 2019 - 4:45 am PT

Samsung has been taken to court in Australian over claims that a number of its ads misled customers about the water resistance levels of its popular Galaxy phone line.

Many Samsung Galaxy phones over the past three to four years have been advertised as having IP68 water resistance ratings, which should mean they are capable of withstanding up to 30 minutes in 1.5-meter deep water.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has grievances with this (via The Verge), as this IP68 rating does not cover all types of water bodies. Samsung has been advertising many popular Galaxy models as safe for places such as swimming pools and even oceans since 2016 — the ACCC states that Samsung has been deliberately misleading by advertising usage in unsuitable areas.

Since around February 2016, Samsung has widely advertised on social media, online, TV, billboards, brochures and other media that the Galaxy phones are water resistant and depicted them being used in, or exposed to, oceans and swimming pools.

Samsung also advertised the Galaxy phones as being water resistant up to 1.5 metres deep for 30 minutes. The ACCC’s case involves over 300 advertisements.

“The ACCC alleges Samsung’s advertisements falsely and misleadingly represented Galaxy phones would be suitable for use in, or for exposure to, all types of water, including in ocean water and swimming pools, and would not be affected by such exposure to water for the life of the phone, when this was not the case,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in an official statement.

Have you taken your Samsung Galaxy phone to the beach or swimming pool and then had issues after getting the device wet? How did Samsung deal with the situation? Did you manage to get a repair? Let us know in the comments section below.