Liquipel was showing off a clear coating a thousand times thinner than a human hair that shields smartphones outside and inside from damaging effects of water.

"Water will just run through the machine," Liquipel president Danny McPhail told AFP as he casually tossed an iPhone into a tub of water and watched it sink. "It actually beads right on top of the circuit board and rolls off."

He plucked the unscathed iPhone from the tub and shook the water from the gadget, which continued to work.

About six weeks ago, the Southern California company launched the first public service that let smartphone owners send gadgets in to be coated using the nano-technology.

Liquipel came to CES to close deals with major electronics makers to have protective coating pre-applied to new smartphones.

"Hopefully, the next time you purchase a phone it will already be treated," McPhail said.

"Wine spills, coffee spills, anything like that you are going to be protected," he continued. "I don't want to say a toilet, but that is where 50 percent of smartphone water deaths happen."

Liquipel charges $60 to coat a smartphone, with shipping adding to the cost.

At 0.26 inches (6.68 millimeters), the Ascend P1S is thinner than the width of a pencil. Apple's latest iPhone, the 4S, by comparison, has a thickness of 0.37 inches (9.3 mm).

Huawei Device chairman Richard Yu said the Ascend P1S combines being the slimmest smartphone in the world with "high performance."

"It's very convenient, very comfortable in your hand," Yu told a press conference on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Yu said he expected the Ascend P1S, which is powered by the latest generation of Google's Android software, to go on sale in Europe in March and the following month in the rest of the world, including the United States.

He said the company was still negotiating prices with telecom carriers but he expected the device to sell for around $400.

The Ascend P1S features front- and rear-facing still and video cameras and a 4.3-inch (10.92-centimeter) screen.

Yu acknowledged Huawai is not well known for high-end devices in the United States but he hoped the Ascend P1S would help change the image of the company.

"Our problem is our brand is not recognized by many people," Yu said. "We need to do some branding in the US market."

Huawei, founded more than 20 years ago by Ren Zhengfei, a former People's Liberation Army engineer, is at the forefront of Chinese efforts to shift from being the world's workshop to being the creators of genuine global brands.