No phone is waterproof. No phone is dustproof. Your phone’s sealants wear away over time; when they’re exposed to salt or chlorine in your swimming water; or when they’re dropped, dented, or cracked. Your warranty doesn’t cover liquid damage; if companies find water in an IP68 phone, it’s proof you damaged it!
But while these things are all true of every manufacturer in my reporting, I’ve never seen a company proactively say them out loud like Google just did in advertising materials.
The fine print reads (bolding mine):
Designed to comply with dust and water protection rating IP68 under IEC standard 60529 when each device leaves the factory but the device is not water or dust proof. The accessories are not water or dust resistant. Water resistance and dust resistance are not permanent conditions and will diminish or be lost over time due to normal wear and tear, device repair, disassembly or damage. Phone is not drop/tumble proof and dropping your device may result in loss of water/dust resistance. Damage from drops, tumbles, and other external forces are not covered under warranty. Liquid damage voids the warranty. See g.co/pixel/water for details.
If this interests you, I suspect you might also like to read about the reality of folding glass and the reason why almost every folding glass phone comes with a plastic screen protector that you’re not supposed to remove.
