It"s been four years since Samsung introduced the latest phone in its Galaxy XCover lineup, which consists of rugged devices designed for mobile workforces. We did get the XCover Pro last year, which is a higher-end model, but today the company is announcing the XCover 5, a true successor to the XCover 4 from 2017.
The XCover 5 comes with plenty of upgrades over the XCover 4, as you"d expect after a four-year wait period. It now has an Exynos 850 chipset, which has eight Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz. The RAM has been doubled to 4GB and the internal storage is four times higher at 64GB, but both are the same as on last year"s XCover Pro. There"s also a 3,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging.
The display is a slightly larger 5.3-inch panel, and it"s still a TFT panel with HD+ resolution. Since the phone is designed for harsh environments, there"s a Glove Touch feature so you can use the touchscreen with gloves on. There"s only one rear camera, clocking in at 16MP and f/1.8 aperture, while the selfie camera is 5MP and has an aperture of f/2.2.
As you"d expect, the XCover 5 is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, and it also meets the MIL-STD-810H standard for durability. There"s a set of Pogo pins for charging, facial recognition for unlocking the phone, and one programmable key on the side. It also supports NFC with EMV L1 certification. Finally, in terms of software, it"s running Android 11.
The Galaxy XCover 5 will be available this month in markets including Asia, Europe, and Latin America, with other regions coming later. Pricing information wasn"t revealed, though.