Uhh are we all kind of forgetting the Samsung S5?

A phone with ip67 rating, a microsd card slot, headphone jack and removable battery?

Yea I am calling nonsense on this being an engineering limitation.

I have an xCover FieldPro from Samsung because it is one of two devices they make that are waterproof with a removable battery. It is marketed as a device for first responders and is built with field use in mind. It even comes with a spare battery.

I decided after my S4 Active battery died and I broke the screen trying to replace it that I wouldn't buy a phone without a removable battery. Not easy to find anymore. I did have to sacrifice Qi charging. But the xCover phones have pogo pin charging docks that suited my nightstand charging needs.

I've got a Samsung Xcover pro. It has an easily removable back plate and a replaceable battery and is IP-68 rated. My old Casio was in the same vein. Maybe you couldn't get it quite as thin, but they did away with the easily removable battery long before they started trying to waterproof it.

The S5 was thinner than the contemporary iPhone and within 1mm of the 13 Pro Max

Like 50 years of wrist watches kinda calls BS on that. Mass produced, low cost, waterproof devices with easily removable batteries used to be the norm. We as a species certainly haven't forgotten how to do that, these adhesives are far from necessary.

They exist not for IP rating, but to make the device appear to not have any screws. Both for aesthetic reasons and to keep people out reasons.

An Omega Seamaster weighs anywhere between 100 and 200 grams, depending on the model. Extrapolating that to the size of a phone, you'd have to lug around a 1kg brick. Now, I'm not a fan of the trend of thinness and lightness above all, I'd prefer a slightly beefier phone but one that weighs a kilo is ridiculous.

Why do you go immediately for an Omega Seamaster? There are a thousand other waterproof watches out there with removable batteries that don't weigh near as much as a dive watch. It's rated for 300 meters. I don't think anyone is expecting a phone to be thin and light and waterproof under 300 meters of water.

Because it's well known enough. 200g is the heavier end, sure, but 100g seems pretty light for a wristwatch anyway. The Seiko 5 is one of the lightest watches at about 70 grams, and that thing is tiny. That's to say, the Seamaster isn't really much more heavier than others, unless you're going for some mickey mouse watches.