While Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s flagship Galaxy S smartphone series follows a 12-month refresh cycle, the extended Galaxy family of devices is updated much more frequently. The latest update arrived on Sunday when the company debuted the Galaxy XCover Pro, a rugged phone aimed at the enterprise market.

The device is designed for frontline workers such as warehouse staff who spend their day outside a traditional office. It’s essentially a standard midrange Android phone in a non-standard, durable case adapted to complex work environments.

The XCover Pro is resistant to dust and can survive immersion in more than four feet of water for 30 minutes. Its reinforced case can withstand falls from up to 4.9 feet. Samsung has for added measure made the device compatible with the MIL-STD 810G standard, a certification given to handsets that can operate in extreme altitude, humidity and other severe environmental conditions.

Samsung has equipped the XCover Pro with a 6.3-inch full-HD+ display that features its own list of specialized properties. The screen can be used in rain or snow and features a self-explanatory “glove mode” that is intended to ease app navigation for users while working on demanding tasks.

In the same spirit of easing navigation, the XCover Pro packs two programmable keys that workers can employ as physical shortcuts. One of the first supported apps is Microsoft Teams, which will enable users to instantly launch the Walkie Talkie push-to-talk feature Microsoft Corp. rolled out for the service last week. Samsung likely plans to provide integrations  with some of its own services as well: The XCover will ship with the company’s Samsung POS point-of-sale system for processing payments and Knox cybersecurity platform.

Powering it all is a large 4,050-mAh battery that is big even in comparison with the 3,400-mAh battery inside Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S10. Samsung claims that the XCover Pro can last “long after the day is done.” Most importantly, the battery is replaceable, which means a user working a long shift can simply take it out when the power runs out and swap it with a fresh unit.

Internally, the device features a 2GHz eight-core Exynos 9611 with 4 gigabytes of memory and 64 gigabytes of storage. Storage capacity can be increased to 512 gigabytes with a built-in microSD card. Samsung will make the XCover Pro available in the second half of 2020 for $499.

The device’s debut comes less than two weeks after the company unveiled the Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite, less expensive versions of its two top-end handsets. It’s all part of a push by Samsung to generate more sales outside the premium phone segment, an effort that is evidently bearing fruit: International Data Corp. estimates Samsung’s device shipments grow the most out of all the major phone makers in the third quarter. 

Image: Samsung