CAT's S52 is pretty yet still rugged, arrives in Europe in November

CAT's latest rugged phone doesn't look it on the surface. While still complying to the usual IP68 water and dust resistance and MIL-STD 810G standards, it's thin at 9.69mm and has an exposed aluminum frame as well as a clean TPU backplate.

The front is covered with Gorilla Glass 6 that sits slightly recessed under a protective ridge. The aforementioned back plate is made of non-slip TPU interrupted only by a single camera cutout. That camera is a 12MP f/1.8 Sony-made unit with 1.4µm pixels. The selfie camera is an 8MP snapper.

The CAT S52 has been tested for thermal shocks, high and low pressure extremes, salt mist conditions and drop tests onto steel (30 drops from 1.5 meters).

CAT S52

Underneath the CAT S52 runs nearly-stock Android 9. It's powered by the MediaTek Helio P35 with 4GB of RAM. There's 64GB of onboard storage, expandable through a microSD card slot.

The CAT S52 will launch in Europe from November 12, priced at €499/£449. It will be available from CAT's own website and major European carriers and retailers.