Samsung showed off its new niche installment on Thursday with the Galaxy S4 model the S4 Active. The phone is rumored to be the sturdier, waterproof and dustproof version of the company's flagship smartphone.
Samsung is so confident in the Galaxy S4 Active's ability to be waterproof that they were displayed submerged in a small tank filled a couple inches with water. People could come up and fish the smartphone right out of the tank and play with it as though it had never been under water.
Samsung isn't the only smartphone developer to come out with a sturdy, waterproof variant of one of their devices, Sony's Xperia has the same features for the person who plans on putting their phone through a bit more punishment than most. With two of the major players in the mobile device market setting a precedent that people want waterproof and durable phones, it has caused many to speculate if this niche marketing will become standard in the future, particularly, if Apple's iPhone will be making a foray into the waterproof smartphone market as early as their iPhone 6 model.
Typically, Apple doesn't do niche variants of its iPhones. Instead, if a new feature is popular and viable enough for the public to demand it on their smartphones, Apple tacs it onto their flagship model. This would mean, if Apple does have plans for the iPhone to go waterproof, it would need to be something the general public wants badly enough for them to make it come standard with each iPhone.
One major hiccup that might stop Apple from adopting this feature any time soon is the fact that phones like the Galaxy S4 Active and Sony's Xperia are both larger than their non-rugged counterparts. Apple has demonstrated time and again they are not willing to make the iPhone 6 or any of their other devices bigger. Their goal has always been to make their design more sleek and elegant, not heavy and large according to StableyTimes.
Apple recently innovated their mobile products by unveiling their new iOS 7 at its World Wide Developer's Conference. That will likely be one of the biggest improvements to the iPhone 5s, which has yet to be announced. However, innovations to the iPhone 6 are still up in the air. Perhaps by the time the company is ready to unveil the next installment in their flagship smartphone line, waterproof phones will have become popular enough for Samsung and Sony that iPhone will find a way to work it into their iPhone lineup.
