People in humid climates and cold climates were regularly having their phones get denied warranty service because the water ingress stickers turned red due to condensation, without ever exposing their phone to water immersion. This was understandably upsetting for a lot of people who just wanted their phone to be fixed under warranty.

Thus, companies put in a big effort to seal their phones against dust and water, which ought to have dramatically reduced these service issues and led to a better customer experience overall!

I'd rather have an 3.5mm audio jack

I like to wash my phone under the tap, not getting paranoid of having it in a table close to the pool while drinking a few beers with my wife and friends, it is a really nice to have feature if you live in a warmer climate.

Life happens, people want the assurance that their phone isn’t necessarily e-garbage after an accidental dunk.

I like wash my phones every now and then. Even submerging them in water.

> Or dropping them in their toilets?

That.

It’s also nice to be able to wash them under the tap

Kayaking, fishing, river floating, surfing, diving, snorkeling, etc. "No one I know takes their phone snorkeling" <- that's because they're not presently waterproof, but I imagine a lot of people would like to take a high quality camera under water.

What, you stop refreshing HN while you're showing?

I think it's mostly marketing. When all phones are identical glass rectangles, the only meaningful way to distinguish your product is by being the biggest, thinnest, highest IP-rating.

Most of these metrics are entirely orthogonal to what any real person wants from a phone, but that's an irrelevant detail to marketing types

Yes, people are so addicted to scrolling their idiotic looping videos that they take their phones in public pools. Saw it myself.