Samsung quietly unveiled the Galaxy XCover Pro, its latest rugged smartphone, in Finland last week. The device is now getting a proper introduction by Samsung as the tech giant announces its global availability. This enterprise-ready rugged smartphone will go on sale in several European countries starting January 31 for €499. It’ll arrive in the US market at a later date for $499.
The Galaxy Xcover Pro is seemingly built for field workers, packing features like Microsoft Teams’ walkie-talkie capability and ‘Glove Mode’ display sensitivity. The IP68 water and dust resistance, MIL-STD-810 ruggedness certification, and a removable battery add to its strength. Samsung says this device can survive drops from a height of up to 1.5m. The Xcover Pro also gets some modern smartphone design elements, like a punch-hole display, small bezels, and an ultra-wide rear camera, to deliver a “rugged, yet stylish” finish.
Along with individual customers, Samsung is aiming this phone at the enterprise market as well. This device is compatible with third-party tools from a variety of partners like Infinite Peripherals, KOAMTAC, Scandit, and Visa. Users can add scanners, credit card readers and other peripherals from these partners and keep track of their inventory, scan barcodes, or process payments with ease.
The Galaxy XCover Pro also supports Samsung POS, which allows it to be used at the mobile-based point of sale. It gets an NFC chip for contactless payment. This package is protected by Samsung’s defense-grade multi-layered Knox platform. Samsung promises two years of market availability and four years of security updates on enterprise model Galaxy XCover Pro.
Galaxy Xcover Pro specifications
The Galaxy XCover Pro features a 6.3-inch FHD+ (2400×1080 pixels) LCD display that works even in rain and snow, as well as with gloves on. Under the hood is the octa-core Exynos 9611 SoC with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, expandable up to 512GB via a microSD card. The 4,050 mAh replaceable battery supports 15W fast charging. The dual rear camera setup consists of a 25-megapixel f/1.7 autofocus lens and an 8-megapixel f/2.2 fixed-focus ultra-wide camera. The front-facing camera is a 13-megapixel sensor. This device also gets a pogo pin for charging and is compatible with third-party charging docks.
The Galaxy XCover Pro features a side-mounted fingerprint reader just below the volume control buttons on the right edge. It also gets two programmable buttons, one on the left, and one on the top. The device runs Android 10 out of the box. And while it supports dual SIM functionality in Europe, the US variant will only support a single SIM at launch. Dual SIM functionality will be added through a software update later on. There’s also Google AR Core support for augmented reality (AR).
You get all this plus the added ruggedness in a not-so-bulky package. At 159.9 X 76.7 X 9.94mm in dimension and 218g in weight, the Galaxy XCover Pro is a pocketable mid-range smartphone that can withstand quite a bit of abuse.