Your logic isn't really valid. It could be that the glue is indeed effective in facilitating waterproofing and was put in place for that reason, however not to the extent that Apple wants to make any promises that it will survive being submerged.
I don't know what the truth is, I just disagree with your conclusion based on the logic you present.
Sure, I can't prove that glue is 0% effective, maybe monkey dung is better , you can't prove it either.
What I can prove is that "glue helps you swim with your iPhone is bullshit". In fact logic would tell us that glue is created for sticking things together, if you want water proofing you would use something designed for that purpose.
OK,
Prop1: Glue is not effective (or 100% effective if you interpret this word as a scale)
I linked above an Apple link, and you can find examples where iPhones will get refused warranty because of water damage. This proves that GLUE is less then 1oo% effective.
q.e.d
Prop2 Monkey shit might be better then glue.
Since glue <100% and I used the word "might" then there is a chance that monkey shiot after a monkey eats a special food is better.
q.e.d.
My point is that is a terrible excuse if you demand me to prove that glue is exactly 0% effective, I don't have the lab to prove it but A[ple that has the lab decided not to offer you water proof warranty, so either you are happy with
1 glue , is not effective enough for Apple to offer a warranty
2 glue is effective enough but Apple has some sinister business reason to reject your warranty if their water sticker turns on.
OK, let's take a different tack here. Define an amount of money sufficient to buy 5 iPhones, pay for the time/effort to run the test, and leave some profit on top. You and I each put up that amount of money and we test 5 stock iPhones against 5 iPhones with the glue/gaskets removed in some water intrusion tests in a swimming pool and then disassemble them to inspect.
If the glue isn't effective (your premise), I'd expect the phones to behave broadly similarly and you win the bet.
If the glue is effective, I'd expect the 5 no-glue phones to experience more water intrusion and I win the bet.
How about $50K each, plus $5K each for phones, plus $5K each on top to be donated to the FSF? If there is no difference (or if the no-gasket phones outperform), you keep all 10 phones, my $50K, and are out $5K for phones and $5K to FSF. If the glued phones outperform, I keep the 10 phones, your $50K, and am out $5K for phones and $5K to FSF. Either way, the FSF gets $10K. (If you dislike the FSF, pick another remotely reasonable charity and if you win, both of us donate $5K to that charity.)
I'm sure we can find some tech YouTuber to help us film and broadcast the outcome publicly.
Your experiment is invalid, I did not proven that glue is 0% effective , so I already gave yout he claim that glue might be say 55 effective and maybe monkey shit is 6% and some water repelling fats could be 50% effective.
It is Apple fans that ppretend that glue is used for water proofing while Apple claims the phone is not water proof. So this fanboys need to prove the woprld and to Apple that glue purpose is to let you swim with your phone.
The experiment will prove that you can swim but only in that exact same conditions, temperature, water salt content , humidity in air.
Why are you invested in this to contradict Apple documentation ?
search this link for "swiming" https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207043 , seems there is damage in many cases, maybe is not imediate so guys like you that change their phones often d not see the consequences.
So, if I won the bet, we would only conclude that under those specific conditions that your claim wasn't upheld? In other words, under those conditions, the glue wasn't bullshit with respect to swimming, but is under most other conditions?
You have no idea how often I change phones, but the fact that I'm well-experienced with changing batteries on family phones that I own may give you some hints as to the frequency thereof. (I use an XS Max from 2018.)
Why do you limit this to Apple? Samsung and Sony will take extra care to apply the glue properly when fixing your phone, and they will replace your device if their glue fails to do its job.
I never seen Samsung fanboys inventing fantastic stories to defend their brand. Where with Apple I seen tons, remember the issue with the keyboards ? I seen here an HN people accusing users that they are slobs, or trolls and that the keyboard is perfect, one fanboys was creating a fantasy where Apple had a giant lab with mechanical robot hands typing on a keyboard simulating real world usage and there is no way Apple did a mistake. (where are you naive Apple fanboy that things robotic people are typing on hundreds of keyboards so Apple can release perfect stuff???)
When Samsung or Google phones have issue I never see such fantasies beeing created to defend a giant company that has payed people to do that.
Whenever you create a premise that both A and ~A are are true, you can base any argument for anything on it. How can a glue be both effective at waterproofing and ineffective at waterproofing?
How can antibiotics work, yet people still die from infections? How can airbags work and yet people still die in car crashes? How can ABS work and yet…
I don't know what the truth is, I just disagree with your conclusion based on the logic you present.