Havard says modern, brittle glass screens pose a particularly hard problem for water-resistance, since manufacturers can't permanently attach them to the frame. So manufacturers use a surprisingly simple technique: glue. Lots of it. They're called gaskets, seals, tapes or adhesives, but it all means the same thing: manufacturers use sticky, rubbery glue-like substances to create an airtight seal. That black strip? It's the proprietary adhesive Samsung uses to keep water from penetrating the Galaxy S7's screen gap.
Just look at any teardown of a water-resistant handset: you'll see a thick, sticky substance that cements the screen to the chassis, Manufacturers also use dabs of glue at the back of iphone screen protector design ports (typically where USB, Lightning and 3.5mm headphone jacks connect to the motherboard) and sometimes on top of exposed circuits near the edges of the frame, This neon orange gasket keeps water from penetrating through the iPhone 7 Plus mute switch, Glue doesn't work for everything, though: you wouldn't want visible goop oozing out where buttons, ports and removable components stick out of the phone..
That's where rubber gaskets come in: little O-rings that press up against the inside of the device, expanding as they're firmly fastened (squished) against the inside surface. You'll find the rubber rings around a phone's headphone jack and charging port, and there's typically a tiny rubber gasket around the SIM card tray. Apple even uses the rings around some cable connectors as an extra insurance policy. For buttons, manufacturers may use a different technique: a little boot of silicone rubber that completely separates the physical part you push from the electrical contacts inside. It's a little bit like covering your shoes with a plastic bag before stepping out onto the wet sidewalk. That goes for the little button you push with a paper clip to pop out your SIM card tray, too.
Four waterproofing techniques in one Galaxy S7 photo: glue, speaker mesh, rubber gaskets and a pressure vent (the little gray square) for the microphone, But it's important that a few parts of the phone aren't completely sealed, Speakers and microphones need air to enter and leave your phone, because creating vibrations in the air is how they produce sound, Plus, if a phone is completely airtight, the pressure inside the phone might not be equal to the outside, creating an opportunity for that pressure to breach the phone's seals and let water iphone screen protector design in..
Instead of just a mesh, they add a water-resistant, breathable fabric membrane (ePTFE) to let air through and equalize the pressure. (Gore, the maker of ePTFE material Gore-Tex -- yes, the same fabric you'll find in your ski jacket -- tells CNET it's sold over a billion portable electronics vents to date.). Some manufacturers, like Samsung, even protect their charging ports from shorting out by automatically switching them off, and use corrosion-resistant metals (like nickel) to keep rust from wearing phones down.