itel Power 80 Hits Kenyan Stores With Military-Grade Durability

itel POWER 80, a 4G smartphone, is now available in official retail stores in Kenya. It arrives at a mass-market recommended price of KES 19,499.

With itel, the price has always been an attractive point, with the Power 80 joining the list of budget phones available in the market. What the Chinese phone maker is selling with its latest smartphone is extra durability and toughness without any additional costs.

itel claims to have built durability within the device itself, stating, “The POWER 80 is built around a shock-absorption cage frame — a reinforced internal structure that distributes impact energy away from the screen and internal components”

Usually, well-used smartphones suffer from chipped corners as the rigours of everyday usage take their toll. This new itel comes with reinforced corner buffers that extend slightly beyond the screen plane, so the display never makes direct contact with concrete or tile in a drop.

The phone has been tested and certified to survive being dropped from up to 2 meters onto hard surfaces (SGS 5-Star Gold Drop-Proof certification, from SGS International in Geneva).

It also meets MIL-STD-810 military durability standards, a toughness test created for military gear.

itel Power 80 has IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance, as the phone maker has worked to seal the phone parts that are susceptible to water and dust ingress.

READ: What IP Rating Means on Smartphones and Devices

The intention is to have a durable phone that survives enduring situations without the user having to buy an external third-party phone case.

“Why should Kenyans buy a phone, a case, and a screen protector just to trust their phone will survive the week? We built the POWER 80 so the answer is: you don’t have to. The durability is in the phone itself,” said Greyson, Marketing Manager, itel Kenya.

itel Power 80 Specs

Beyond toughness and durability, the phone promises battery life. It packs a 7,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging.

For the display, there is a 6.78-inch HD+ screen optimised for outdoor sunlight visibility. Under the hood is the Unisoc T7250 octa-core processor, 8GB RAM (expandable to 16GB), and 128GB storage.

The phone ships with Android 16 and is available in Meteor Black, Titanium Silver, and Solar Orange.