Removable smartphone batteries are back in vogue.
Samsung on Sunday launched the Galaxy XCover Pro, a new mid-range device that features a removable battery. It will be available in the U.S. during the first half of 2020 for $499, the company said.
The rugged phone isn’t designed to rival Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Note 10 or Galaxy S10. It’s made for the enterprise market — including industries from retail to manufacturing to health care. The company will also sell it to individual customers, according to TechCrunch.
The tech giant is working with Verizon and Microsoft to bring its new phone to the U.S. market.
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The 6.3-inch XCover Pro is built for all-day use, with a 4,050 mAh replaceable battery. The device features 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage with a dual rear camera that includes a standard 25 megapixel lens and an 8 megapixel wide-angle lens.
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The phone, which is capable of withstanding drops of nearly 5 feet, also offers a walkie-talkie capability in Microsoft Teams, a chat-based workspace in Office 365.
“Microsoft and Samsung have a deep history of bringing together the best hardware and software to help solve our customers’ challenges,” Satya Nadella, chief executive at Microsoft, said in Sunday’s announcement. “The powerful combination of Microsoft Teams and the new Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro builds on this partnership and will provide firstline workers everywhere with the technology they need to be more collaborative, productive and secure.”
