The Refined Rugged Smartphone

Cat phones announced the Cat® S40 rugged smartphone, a tough, durable device that looks as good as it performs. Designed to appeal to the growing rugged smartphone market, which saw over 10m units sold globally in 2014, the S40 is the toughest smartphone in the Cat phones portfolio to date.

A survey of smartphone users that now use a rugged phone, organised by Cat phones, revealed that 80% had damaged a handset in the last five years. Half had cracked or shattered the display, and just less than half had damaged a phone by accidentally dropping or immersing it in water. And about a third had components, covers or other parts of their devices break off, typically when dropped.

Separately, focus groups with professional tradesmen and outdoor workers, emphasised that damaging handsets in demanding work environments is a common problem. More than half of those spoken to had cracked or broken their phone screen, for example. The perceived lack of attractive, rugged alternatives was a key reason for unsuitable devices being used even though many of those questioned had damaged their phones multiple times.

The new Cat S40 has been designed to address these problems and appeal to the 85 million people working in construction globally, by combing superior rugged protection and smartphone performance while retaining the looks of a stylish must-have handset.

«Too many people are being let down and left out-of-pocket by damaged smartphones due to them being used in work environments they were not built for,» says Oliver Schulte, CEO of Bullitt Mobile. «We recognised the need to use our expertise to launch a stylish, rugged smartphone that offers protection alongside style and performance. With the refined rugged design of the S40 we’re offering a device that looks great, runs the latest version of Android and offers the levels of protection our customers need.»

Retailing at 429 EUROS / 399.99 GBP the S40 will be launched in 60+ countries from Aug 1^st.