Verizon will sell rugged Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro in the United States, removable battery and all

While Samsung has reportedly eliminated the headphone jack on the upcoming Galaxy S20, the Korean behemoth is bringing back a long-extinct phone feature: removable batteries. The Galaxy XCover Pro, a ruggedized handset set for sale in Europe, will be coming to the U.S. via Verizon, and its battery is user-removable.

The Galaxy XCover Pro is a mid-range handset. Powered by a Samsung Exynos 9611, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage, the phone isn’t going to impress any spec-seekers, but it should be powerful enough for most users. The phone has a 6.3-inch FHD+ (2400x1080, 20:9) display with a hole punch in the upper-lefthand corner housing the 13 MP selfie camera. There is a dual-camera array around back consisting of a 25 MP camera and an 8 MP sensor.

The main draw of the Galaxy XCover Pro isn’t the internals, though. The phone boasts an IP68-rated rugged design with thick bezels, a sturdy chassis, and quite a bit of heft. Measuring in at over 200 grams and about 10 mm thick, the Galaxy XCover Pro looks hearty on paper. In line with its durable design, the phone also features a side-mounted fingerprint reader and a dedicated push-to-talk button. Lastly, the 4050 mAh battery can be easily removed by users for quick swaps. The phone will ship with Android 10 running underneath the Samsung One UI 2.0

Verizon will begin selling the Galaxy XCover Pro sometime in the back half of this year for US $499.

What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro? Should phone manufacturers bring back removable batteries? Let us know in the comments.