Dust on sensor warranty issue?

Excuse for asking this but it relates to a Panasonic compact I bought a few months ago.
It's now got dust in the sensor - would this be a warranty repair as it is a sealed unit?

i would say yes,is it a long zoom range

It's got 8x zoom.
I am really disappointed that dust got into it, I thought with it being a 'sealed unit' this would not happen.

Thats what i would have thought too.
I know with DSLR's long zooms can "pull" dust into the sensor but wouldn't expect it with a compact.

I had the same problem with my Fujifilm F810. It went back for another fault but I mentioned the dust issue on my return report and it was cleaned FOC.

Typical compacts are not dust sealed so this is probably quite common. There are a number of areas in the casing through which dust can enter, such as any of the buttons and controls, and small gaps between an extendible lens barrel and the casing. It's also possible there may already be dust inside the casing following the manufacturing process. Whilst the sensors themselves are manufactured in a dust-free environment, I very much doubt the camera bodies are assembled in one. The 'average' compact owner has no idea how to identify sensor dust so for the most part it likely goes unnoticed.