The Galaxy S7 Active leaks in all its rugged, rubberized glory

The existence of a Samsung Galaxy S7 Active is hardly a secret, what with Samsung itself leaking the name a while back, but this is the first time we’ve caught multiple photos of its in the wild. The latest batch of photos shows the AT&T Galaxy S7 Active in all its rugged, rubberized glory, and boy oh boy, is this thing built like a tank.

The Galaxy S7 Active maintains the digital camouflage pattern on the back we saw on the Galaxy S6 Active, but Samsung’s obduracy on design between the S6 and S7 has wavered with the S7 Active. The new phone replaces the metal frame on last year’s Active with huge rubberized bumpers on the corners (drop test anyone?).

The plastic back panel is also removable but there’s no word on a removable battery. According to the source of the leak, Samsung VN, the chunky mix of polycarbonate and rubber encasing the S7 Active meets military standards for drop damage.

As with previous Active variants, the capacitive keys are gone, replaced by waterproof physical buttons the same shape as the home button. The IP rating is still IP68, meaning it is dustproof and water-resistant for up to 30 minutes in up to a meter of water, although we’ve seen multiple immersion tests that have it working perfectly fine for a lot longer than that.

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The Galaxy S7 Active is reportedly powered by the Snapdragon 820 with 4 GB of RAM. AT&T should announce the phone any day now, which shouldn’t cost much more than the regular Galaxy S7.

Thoughts on the Galaxy S7 Active? Is a regular S7 in a bumper case better?