Magnets are found in everyday life, and are key components of some important gadgets and appliances. However, they can be harmful to mobile phones under certain conditions.
If you have ever wondered how magnets may affect your mobile phone, you’re not alone. We explain in this guide how magnets can affect mobile phones, so that you can know how to protect your phone to ensure it lasts as long as possible.
How magnets affect phones
Magnets are generally safe around mobile phones, because modern phones are built to withstand minor or even significantly strong magnetic fields. They can however affect the phone if the magnetic field becomes strong enough.
This isn’t easily obtainable in everyday life though, so it is unlikely that your phone gets exposed to such a strong magnetic field that can damage it.
Nonetheless, different phones react differently to magnets depending on the manufacturers. As a phone owner, you should know how your particular phone responds to magnetic fields so that you can effectively protect it and ensure it lasts longer.
The following are some of the top phone brands and how magnets may affect them if exposed significantly..
Apple iPhone
Magnets generally do not affect iPhones and other Apple devices such as Ipads and MacBooks, assuming the magnets are not too strong.
However, extremely strong magnets can have some negative effects on the devices including the following:
- They may damage or temporarily disrupt the camera
- They may also disrupt the internal compass, thus affecting apps that depend on it.
Samsung Phones
Samsung phones are just as resilient as iPhones, and share some of the characteristics such as the sleek design. In fact, many people who can’t afford iPhones go for Samsung as an alternative.
As they have similar designs, Samsung also has the strength to bear the impact of commonly used magnets. They can only be significantly affected by really strong magnetic fields, resulting in the following.
- A disrupted internal compass that makes certain apps malfunction.
- When placed directly on the phone’s hard drive, such strong magnets can also erase the phone’s memory.
LG Phone
LG smart phones have an in-built capacity to withstand strong magnetic fields. Admittedly, older LG products like the Symbian phones were quite susceptible to magnetic fields, but the recent smartphones are more fortified.
All the same, of course caution must be applied to ensure that the phone is not exposed to magnets that are extremely strong as they can cause some damages such as:
- Damaging the speaker to affect the output.
- Affecting the screen to make the display malfunction.
- It can affect the GPS, the built-in compass, and cell signal as well.
Closing thoughts
If you’re wondering if magnets can affect your smartphone, it is clear by now that smartphones are not so easily affected.
For older phones such as Symbian and Java however, strong magnets can easily damage them in many ways such as bad signals, bad screen display, and others.
However just because there is no apparent damage when exposed to a magnet doesn’t mean your phone will not be affected after consistent exposure to strong magnets.
Therefore it is wiser to avoid exposing it to strong magnetic fields the same way you won’t dip a water-resistant iPhone in water to test it.
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