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RugOne Unveils the Xsnap 7 Pro, a Rugged Phone With a Detachable Action Camera at IFA 2026
A rugged phone with a camera that pops off and goes anywhere
RugOne, the outdoor-focused sub-brand of rugged phone manufacturer Ulefone, used its stage at IFA Berlin 2026 to unveil something genuinely unusual: a rugged smartphone with a camera module that physically pops off and works as a standalone action camera. The Xsnap 7 Pro, officially launched on September 5, is being billed by the company as the world’s first rugged smartphone built around a detachable, professional-grade action camera, and it walked away from the show with an IFA 2026 Innovation Award to back up that claim.
The idea behind the Xsnap 7 Pro is straightforward once you see it in action, even if the engineering behind it clearly wasn’t. A 39-gram camera module sits magnetically embedded into the phone’s rear chassis, functioning as a normal rear camera whenever it’s attached. But unlike anything else on the rugged phone market, that module detaches instantly and can be mounted independently on a helmet, bike handlebars, a strap, or worn as a pendant using the included accessory. RugOne showed early engineering samples of this concept at MWC back in March, and the version that arrived at IFA represents the finished, production-ready design with locked-in specifications and pricing.
What the detachable camera can actually do
Once detached, the camera module records video at up to 2.7K resolution at 30 frames per second, with a 133-degree ultra-wide field of view designed to capture immersive first-person footage. RugOne has built in intelligent distortion correction to keep straight lines and subjects looking natural despite the wide-angle lens, along with SteadyX stabilization and a feature called Horizon Lock, both aimed at keeping footage smooth and level during high-motion activities like biking, skiing, or anything else where the camera is likely to be bouncing around. The module also supports a handful of features aimed squarely at action sports and outdoor content creators, including pre-recording that captures up to 30 seconds before you actually hit record, loop recording, time-lapse, slow motion, and HDR photo capture.
Battery life on the standalone module is rated for up to 40 minutes of continuous recording on a single charge, which sounds modest until you consider the module’s real trick: reattaching it to the phone lets it recharge directly from the Xsnap 7 Pro’s substantial 9,300mAh internal battery, effectively giving users up to 20 additional recharges throughout the day without needing a separate charging cable or power bank. That kind of integration is what elevates this beyond a simple accessory gimmick into something that actually functions as a coherent system, one where the phone essentially doubles as a battery pack and docking station for a dedicated action camera whenever it’s needed.
Built to survive the outdoors
As for durability, the detached module is rated waterproof without requiring any additional housing, a meaningful convenience for anyone used to needing a separate waterproof case for typical action cameras. The phone itself carries an even more rigorous set of certifications: IP68 and IP69K ratings for dust and water resistance, along with MIL-STD-810H military-grade durability testing. RugOne says the device can survive submersion in up to two meters of water for 30 minutes and drops from as high as 1.5 meters onto concrete, all while wrapped in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the display. That combination of specs puts the Xsnap 7 Pro squarely in the same conversation as established rugged phone lines from brands like CAT and Doogee, but with a camera feature none of those competitors currently offer.
Design and everyday hardware
On the design side, RugOne has clearly taken some visual cues from elsewhere in the wearables world. The standard version comes in a warm beige body with bright orange accents, a color combination that inevitably calls to mind Apple’s Watch Ultra, and the company also offers a darker, more understated finish for anyone who’d rather the phone not draw quite as much attention. At 19.1mm thick, the Xsnap 7 Pro is noticeably chunkier than a typical flagship phone, though that’s an expected tradeoff given the durability requirements and the detachable camera mechanism built into its chassis.
Beyond the camera party trick, the rest of the hardware holds up reasonably well against other phones in its price bracket. The Xsnap 7 Pro runs a 6.67-inch AMOLED display at 120Hz with 1.5K resolution and peak brightness reaching up to 1,700 nits, which should keep the screen legible even in direct outdoor sunlight, a genuinely important consideration for a phone marketed toward hikers, cyclists, and other outdoor users. Under the hood sits MediaTek’s Dimensity 8400 5G chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, specs that put it comfortably in upper-midrange to lower-flagship territory for raw performance. Beyond the detachable action camera, the phone also includes a 50-megapixel main camera, a 64-megapixel infrared night-vision sensor for low-light and nighttime shooting, and a 32-megapixel front-facing selfie camera.
Software and AI features
Software-wise, the Xsnap 7 Pro ships with Android 16 out of the box, with RugOne committing to software updates all the way through Android 20, a notably long support window for a phone in this category. Google Gemini comes integrated as well, bringing features like Circle to Search, real-time translation, call summaries, AI-assisted writing tools, and handwriting math recognition, giving the device a genuinely modern software layer to match its unconventional hardware.
Pricing, availability, and whether it’s worth it
RugOne is taking an interesting route to market with this launch. Rather than going straight to traditional retail, the company is kicking off sales through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign starting September 7, with limited super early-bird pricing available at €799, a meaningful discount off the eventual retail price. Wider global availability is planned for October 2026, when the Xsnap 7 Pro will be sold through Amazon, RugOne’s own online store, and select local retailers. Full retail pricing is set at $999 in the United States and €1,099.99 across Europe.
At that price point, the Xsnap 7 Pro is undeniably a niche product rather than a mass-market phone, and it’s easy to see why. A thousand dollars is a serious ask for a rugged phone, even one with genuinely novel hardware. But framed differently, as a rugged phone bundled with a dedicated action camera that would otherwise cost several hundred dollars on its own, plus a durable enough build that most buyers could skip a case and screen protector entirely, the value proposition starts to look considerably more reasonable. Whether outdoor enthusiasts and action sports content creators are willing to commit to a single, do-everything device rather than carrying a separate phone and action camera will likely determine how well the Xsnap 7 Pro performs once it actually reaches customers this fall.
