Samsung Electronics today unveiled its vision for the future, “Together for tomorrow”, during a pre-show keynote event at CES 2022. Keynote speaker Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of DX (Device eXperience) Division at Samsung, highlighted the company’s efforts to usher in a new age of togetherness, with customizable experiences that reflect consumers’ evolving lifestyles, and innovations that mark progress for both society and the planet.

The company’s “Together for tomorrow” vision is one that empowers everyone to create positive change and drives collaborations that address some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. The keynote illustrated how Samsung plans to make its vision a reality by introducing a range of sustainability initiatives, purposeful partnerships, and customizable and connected technologies.

“I’m excited for you to be a part of our vision to see how innovation can create positive change, [and] to join us and work together for tomorrow,” said Han. ”These developments will make sustainability part of your product experience, enabling you to live a more sustainable life.”

Building a Sustainable Future

At its core, Samsung’s vision for the future is built on what the company calls “everyday sustainability.” It is a concept that inspires Samsung to put sustainability at the heart of everything it does. The company has been realizing its vision by adopting new, low-impact product manufacturing practices, footprint-reducing packaging and a more sustainable customer experience, and by responsibly disposing of products at the end of their lifecycles.

Samsung’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions throughout the production cycle have also earned recognition from the Carbon Trust, the world’s leading authority on carbon footprint. Last year, the company’s Carbon Trust-certified memory chips helped reduce carbon emissions by nearly 700,000 tons.

Samsung’s efforts in this area extend well beyond semiconductors and include expanding the use of recycled materials. To introduce everyday sustainability to more products, Samsung’s Visual Display Business plans to use 30 times more recycled plastics than it did in 2021. The company also revealed plans to expand its use of recycled materials to include all mobile products and home appliances over the next three years.

In 2021, all of Samsung’s TV boxes included recycled materials. For this year, the company revealed that it will be expanding the use of recycled materials to include the boxes’ interior packaging as well. Now, recycled materials will be incorporated into Styrofoam, box holders and plastic bags. The company also announced the global expansion of its award-winning Eco-Packaging program. The expansion of the program, which transforms cardboard boxes into cat houses, side tables and other useful furniture items, will include packaging for home appliances such as vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, air purifiers and more.

Samsung is also building sustainability into the ways that customers experience its products. Such experiences will be integral to empowering people to reduce their carbon footprint and make positive changes together for a better tomorrow. As an example, the company introduced notable enhancements to its first-of-its-kind SolarCell Remote, which eliminates battery waste with a built-in solar panel that can be charged during both day and night.

The enhanced SolarCell Remote gets electricity from radio frequencies in devices like Wi-Fi routers.¹ “What’s more, it will be included in more Samsung products – like new Samsung TVs and home appliances – with the goal of eliminating more than 200 million batteries from landfills.² When you line them up, it is the distance from right here, Las Vegas, to Korea,” said Han.

In addition, by 2025, Samsung plans to make all of its TVs and phone chargers operate on near-zero standby power, so that the products will consume almost no energy when not being used.

E-waste is another big challenge for the electronics industry, which is why Samsung has collected more than five million tons of e-waste since 2009. For mobile products, last year, Samsung launched Galaxy for the Planet, a sustainability platform that was created to bring about tangible climate action and minimize devices’ environmental footprints throughout their lifecycles.

“These are important steps,” said Han, “but we cannot achieve our goals alone. We believe open innovation and collaboration are keys to fighting climate change and protecting our environment.” With this in mind, Samsung announced that its eco-conscious technologies like the SolarCell Remote will be made open source, so that others can utilize them for their new devices too.

Samsung’s decision to make such technologies openly available reflects a commitment to innovation – and to everyday sustainability – that transcends industries. The collaboration with Patagonia that Samsung announced at the keynote demonstrates the type of innovation that can result when companies – even those from entirely different industries – come together to address environmental issues. The innovative solution that the companies are designing will help fight plastic pollution by enabling Samsung washing machines to minimize microplastics from entering waterways through laundry cycles.

“This is a serious problem, and not one we can solve on our own,” said Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia. Commending the hard work and dedication of Samsung engineers, Stanley described the working relationship as “a perfect example of the kind of collaboration we all need to help turn the tide of climate change and restore nature to health.”

“We are thrilled about this collaboration, but our work won’t stop there,” added Han. “We will continue to explore new partnerships and collaborations, aiming to address the challenges facing our planet.”

Empowering Users With Customized Experiences 

In addition to describing steps it is taking to advance everyday sustainability, Samsung outlined various ways it is advancing technology to cater to consumers’ diverse needs. Understanding that each person is unique and wants to customize their devices to suit their lifestyle, Samsung strives to find ways to help people redefine their relationships with everyday technologies. This people-first approach to innovation is a key pillar of the company’s “Together for tomorrow” vision.

The platforms and screens that Samsung unveiled at the event reflect the ‘Screens Everywhere, Screens for All’ era that Han alluded to at CES 2020. The Freestyle is a lightweight and portable screen that gives you a cinema-quality experience no matter where you are. Featuring AI-enabled sound, built-in streaming apps and a host of useful Smart TV accessibility features, The Freestyle can be set up virtually anywhere and projects up to 100 inches.

The Samsung Gaming Hub, meanwhile, offers an all-in-one platform for discovering and playing cloud and console games, and is set to launch on the company’s 2022 Smart TVs and monitors. Lastly, The Odyssey Ark is a 55-inch, flexible and curved gaming screen that takes immersion to the next level with a multi-view experience that allows users to play games, video chat with friends and watch gaming videos at the same time.

To introduce more tailored product experiences to consumers’ homes, Samsung announced the rollout of even more customization options for its Bespoke lineup of home appliances. This includes new Bespoke options for Samsung’s Family Hub and French 3-Door and 4-Door refrigerators, alongside dishwashers, ranges and over-the-range microwaves. Samsung is also introducing new products like the Bespoke Jet vacuum and Bespoke Washer and Dryer, expanding the lineup to every room in the home to offer consumers more ways to customize their space to suit their style and needs.

Samsung is constantly exploring ways to harness customization to help users get more out of their devices. The #YouMake Project represents the culmination of those efforts empowering consumers to choose and customize products based on what matters most to them, so they can enjoy a more personalized experience across their devices. Announced at the keynote, the initiative expands Samsung’s Bespoke vision beyond home appliances and brings it to life in the company’s smartphones and large-screen devices.

Ushering in an Era of Seamless Connectivity

Building a better future together for tomorrow requires more than building customization and sustainability into the core of Samsung’s products – it also requires seamless connectivity. During the keynote, Samsung demonstrated its commitment to ushering in an era of truly seamless connected experiences by highlighting its collaborations with partners as well as its next-gen products.

Unveiled for the first time at CES, the all-new Samsung Home Hub takes connected home experiences to the next level with a SmartThings service that integrates with AI-connected appliances to simplify home management. Samsung Home Hub combines six SmartThings services into one convenient device that gives users complete control over their smart home and makes it easier to manage household chores.

To enable different types of smart devices to work better with each other, Samsung announced plans to make SmartThings Hub a built-in feature of its 2022 TVs, Smart Monitors and Family Hub refrigerators. Doing so will help make connected living experiences more accessible and seamless for everyone.

Pointing to the need to offer consumers the best smart home experience regardless of brand, Samsung also announced its role as a founding member of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), which brings together various smart home appliance manufacturers. The organization aims to foster greater interoperability between devices across brands to give consumers more choice, and to enhance the security and safety of products and services.

“As a global coalition of smart home appliance manufacturers, HCA members share a belief that connected ecosystems and digital technology will allow us to further develop product experiences that are elegant, hyper-personalized and truly smart for our consumers,” said Katherine Shin, Vice President of Customer Experience at Trane Technologies. “The HCA invites any global manufacturers with a similar vision for efficiency, interoperability and innovation to come and build with us.”

Samsung’s keynote underlined a deep commitment to corporate social responsibility that continues to characterize its approach to innovation. That commitment is not only realized in the company’s technologies, but also in its dedication towards programs that empower the next generation to bring about the changes they want to see in the world. By nurturing young people’s development and building skills for the workplaces of tomorrow, programs like Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung Innovation Campus are turning dreams into action.

“Today, I’m honored to share that Samsung’s programs to empower the next generation have now reached more than 21 million people since 2012,” said Han. “This is the better tomorrow we all seek: enabling people to reach beyond their dreams, a planet protected so others can experience its wonders, [and] innovation as the spark for change.”

For more information, including images and videos of the products Samsung is announcing at CES 2022, please visit news.samsung.com/global/ces-2022.

¹ For radio frequency harvesting, a physical proximity of SolarCell Remote to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi router is required.

² Estimate is based on expected sales volume and average usage period of related products.

According to the Best Global Brands list announced by the global consulting firm Interbrand on October 20 (local time), Samsung ranked fifth with a brand value of USD 74.6 billion, a 20% increase compared to last year. On the back of its strong financial performance, which has recovered to reach pre-pandemic levels, the company’s brand value surged by 20% this year, twice the average brand value growth rate among the top 100 brands in 2021.

Since entering the top five for the first time last year, Samsung has maintained its position for two consecutive years with its largest increase in brand value since 2013.

According to Interbrand, major factors that played a critical role in Samsung’s growth include:

• Its transition to a customer-centric management system, highlighted by the establishment of a new CX (customer experience) team dedicated to prioritizing customer experience and values
• Its ongoing efforts for sustainable development, including various campaigns guided by its CSR vision, ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,’ as well as company-wide initiatives that promote sustainability, such as the use of eco-packaging for TVs and the Galaxy Upcycling program
• The launches of innovative products including the Galaxy Z Flip3, Neo QLEDs and the Bespoke lineup of home appliances
• Technology leadership as a solid number one in the Memory market and the launches of innovative System LSI products
• Leading the development of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, automotive and robotics through consistent investment

“It is very encouraging to see Samsung Electronics reach the top five in the world last year and then achieve enormous double-digit growth this year — our biggest leap in brand value since 2013,” said YH Lee, CMO of Samsung Electronics. “We promise to leverage our customer-centric management model to keep listening to our customers. This is how we will repay the massive support we have received from customers around the globe.”

Interbrand evaluates businesses’ brand value based on a comprehensive analysis of multiple factors including financial performance, brand influence on purchase, and brand competitiveness.

Meanwhile, on October 12, Samsung was also ranked No.1 by Forbes as the World’s Best Employers 2021 for the second consecutive year. As a global organization with employees and businesses around the world, Samsung has, once again, been chosen as the number one employer.

Each year, Forbes surveys around 150,000 employees from 58 countries working for businesses with operations in multiple nations or regions, and this year asked respondents to rank their satisfaction with their employers’ COVID-19 responses and score their employers on the image, economic footprint, talent development, gender equality, and social responsibility.

※ Reference: Samsung Electronics’ growth in brand value (Interbrand)

What do you do with the big box that comes with your TV? Throw it away? No way! Not the one you get your The Frame 2021 eco-packaged in.

With Samsung’s The Frame 2021, you can now design some very handy household items and also do your tiny bit for the environment. The new line-up of The Frame comes with eco-packaging that can be used in different but innovative ways once the TV is out. Samsung’s new ‘eco-packaging’ is made from eco-friendly corrugated cardboard allowing easier recycling as well as upcycling of the cardboard boxes for creative reuse.

Samsung India re-evaluates and reimagines its contribution to nature with each of its innovations, it strives to not just present its consumers with best-in-segment products but to make its users aware of the importance of environmental sustainability. Samsung’s Eco-Packaging is one of its many such initiatives to encourage creative and easy solutions for upcycling the cardboard packaging with TV products.

Samsung has applied a dot matrix design on each side of its eco-friendly corrugated cardboard boxes, allowing consumers to cut the boxes more easily and assemble them into various other uses, such as small book shelves or houses for pets.

Included within the packaging is a manual to guide customers on how to make household items out of the cardboard boxes, which can be accessed by scanning the QR code on the box.

Here are two fun ways you can re-use your Eco-packaging box:

Bookshelf

Your books are craving a new corner to settle in. Make room for more unputdownable reads for your lockdown schedule. The average time is required to make the bookshelf is about 60 mins. You can find more about the bookshelf here: https://www.samsung-ecopackage.com/box/frame/Frame05_Bookshelf

Cat House

After a day full of mischief and play, your little one needs a comfortable nest to rest in. Build an eco-friendly cat house for your furry friend. The average time is required to make the cat house is about 180 mins. You can find more about the cat house here: https://www.samsung-ecopackage.com/box/frame/Frame07_CatTunnel

(From left) Engineers Kwanyoung Kim and Seungsan Han, and designer Sungdo Son – members of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business, and the developers behind the company’s new solar cell-powered remote control and environmentally friendly TV packaging.

Did you know that out of the more than 50 million¹ tons of electronics that are thrown away each year, only a mere 17 percent is eventually recycled? Most of this ‘e-waste’ ends up polluting the environment by sitting in landfills or being incinerated. With annual e-waste expected to reach as much as 74 million tons by 2030, the global community has started taking steps to reduce consumption and minimize waste.

Driven by a desire to keep our planet clean for generations to come, Samsung Electronics regularly engages in eco-conscious efforts that are helping to establish a circular economy. The company is constantly exploring ways to reduce its products’ impact on the environment, including increasing products’ lifespans and spearheading efforts to recycle their resources.

In celebration of Earth Day 2021 (April 22), this special series will shine a light on Samsung initiatives that are paving the way for a circular economy. Our first article took a closer look at how the company’s recycling campaigns are giving old phones new life. Here, we’ll examine how Samsung’s Visual Display Business is making its TVs more sustainable by adopting eco-friendly packaging and solar-cell-powered remote controls.

Today, innovation no longer focuses solely on creating a more convenient and efficient future, but a sustainable one as well. As such, leaders in the fields of science and technology are devoting their utmost efforts to making their products eco-friendly without compromising on performance.

Samsung consistently pursues innovations that allow it to make its products more environmentally friendly. Recently, the company added an eco-friendly touch to one of consumers’ favorite appliances by developing a remote control that’s made using renewable plastic and powered by photovoltaic energy rather than disposable batteries, as well as TV packaging that can be reused as small furniture. Samsung Newsroom recently sat down with members of the team behind the innovations that are making Samsung TVs more sustainable.

A Solar Cell-Powered Remote Control That Charges Itself Using Photovoltaic Energy

Even if you have a nice, big, high-performance TV in your living room, you won’t be able to fully enjoy its countless channels and manage the volume and other features without a remote control. When exploring ways to make remote controls more eco-conscious, Samsung’s developers focused their attention on disposable batteries.

“Supposing that a typical TV is used for around seven years, changing the batteries in its remote just once a year would mean that 14 batteries would get used and thrown out,” said Kwanyoung Kim, an engineer. If we apply that number to Samsung Electronics’ expected annual global TV sales, it amounts to approximately 99 million discarded batteries. If we apply it to annual TV sales overall, it adds up to nearly 3.1 billion batteries.²

▲Over the course of a TV’s lifetime, a solar cell-powered remote control could effectively prevent up to 99 million AA batteries from being used and discarded.

Rather than using disposable batteries in the remote, the engineers decided to go with a self-charging battery instead. Many charging methods were considered, including one that harnessed the kinetic energy that’s created when the remote is shaken, and one that utilized the vibrational energy that’s created when the microphone picks up sounds. As Kim explained, at the end of the day, the optimal charging solution turned out to be a solar cell.

“Even when we aren’t watching our TV or using our remote, we usually have the lights on, except when we are sleeping. This makes light an easily accessible charging solution,” said Kim. “If we substituted disposable batteries with self-charging solar cell batteries like the one we’ve developed, it would amount to reducing up to around 6,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.”

How exactly does the remote control generate energy from the fluorescent lights in our living rooms? Put simply, its solar panel takes in photons from light, which react with the electrons in the solar cells to create electricity. The difference between outdoor panels and indoor panels is the spectrum of light being used. “You can’t get as much light indoors compared to sunlight,” added Kim, “so we decided to utilize solar cells that generate energy even in low-light indoor environments.”

Increasing Electricity Efficiency Makes Solar Cell-Powered Remote Controls Possible

Because the amount of electricity that could be created by converting light energy simply wasn’t enough, it would be impossible to generate enough energy for the remote control using solar cells alone. This led the engineers to create a low power remote control instead of searching for ways to increase energy production.

The engineers succeeded in increasing the remote control’s energy efficiency by reducing its power consumption by 86 percent.³ They did this by taking users’ TV watching patterns, the number of times they pressed their remote control’s buttons, and usage time into account. As Kim explained, the solar cells in the final product “can provide up to 70 percent of the power used by the remote control.”

Making the design of the typical TV remote control, which has remained unchanged until now, more sustainable was no simple task. The color of the solar panel was already determined, so it was difficult to apply various colors to the remote control’s design. One of the team’s key concerns was that the remote control’s panel would need to be raised up high in order to be charged via light. “The solar panel itself is gray, so if we used a color other than black for the battery, it wouldn’t go well with the overall product design,” said Kim. “We also needed the design to encourage consumers to do their part to help the environment.”

The remote control is so small that you could ask whether it even needs to be energy-saving. If you asked the developers, they would tell you that, because the final product is even more eco-conscious than they anticipated, its design was undoubtedly meaningful and their efforts were worthwhile. Their ultimate goal is to develop a solar cell-powered remote control that is capable of charging itself up to the full amount of energy that it needs.

“TV remote controls are frequently used products, and our aim is to create the kind of remote that offers users meaningful value, and can be a deciding factor when purchasing a TV,” said Kim.

Use of Recycled Plastic Materials Contributes to a Huge Reduction in CO2 Emissions

Solar panel technology isn’t the only thing that makes Samsung’s new remote control especially eco-friendly. Indeed, the plastic material used to create this roughly 40g device is comprised of 28 percent recycled plastic. Samsung has been utilizing recycled plastic in its products for a long time, and has received various certifications for its eco-friendliness. Now, the company has expanded its scope by applying recycled materials to accessories like remote controls as well.

Recycled plastic is enticing because it reuses resources, but not everything about it comes easily. For a start, unit prices go up during the manufacturing process. While Samsung’s VD business does utilize plastic waste that has been collected in Korea, the volume is so small that additional resources need to be imported from overseas. This process causes costs to go up by five percent at the least, and 10 percent at the most.

“The amount of plastics used by Samsung Electronics’ VD Business alone is 250,000 tons,” said Seungsan Han, an engineer and colleague of Kim’s. “Even substituting 10 to 30 percent of that with recycled plastics would require 30,000 to 70,000 tons.”

Despite those costs, Samsung is committed to increasing its usage of recycled materials based on their clear eco-conscious benefits. According to Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), a methodology for assessing environmental impact, products made using approximately 28 percent recycled plastics emit 31 percent less CO2 than products made from non-recycled plastics.⁴ In an effort to maximize its use of eco-friendly materials, Samsung also explores ways to utilize waste that has been thrown indiscriminately into the sea. “Twenty percent of the waste that gets thrown into the sea is made of Polyethylene terephthalate,” said Han. “The marine waste plastic obtained here is called OBP (Ocean Bound Plastic) material, which can be applied to the exteriors of electronics. Using OBP in this way helps discourage marine pollution while promoting efforts to protect the environment.”

More Interest in Eco-Friendliness Widens the Range of Recycled Materials

Samsung has long practiced eco-conscious business management, and has been developing eco-conscious products and technologies for several years. As a result, the company is now capable of producing high-quality products using recycled materials, while keeping unit prices at manageable levels.

▲ Samsung’s eco-friendly solar cell-powered remote control.

Samsung currently utilizes recycled plastics when producing many products, including not just its new, solar cell-powered remote control, but other remote controls as well. Eco-conscious materials are used in the company’s monitors, signage stands, and back covers, too. “In the future, the use of recycled materials will be expanded to include more Samsung TV products,” said Han. “With 2030 being the year when we hope to reach our ultimate achievement, we will keep increasing our use of recycled plastics each year.”

Eco-Packaging: What Would Be Trash Becomes Small Furniture

Increasing products’ efficiency and using recycled materials are clear ways to become more eco-conscious. Now, efforts are being made to address the eco-friendliness of products’ packaging, which would usually be thrown away. Allowing consumers to use their TV’s packaging to make small furniture, the eco-packaging that Samsung introduced in 2020 is a perfect example of this point.

The TVs’ eco-packaging first began as a project of C-Lab, Samsung’s in-house startup incubation program. The C-Lab developers were wondering how best to recycle TVs’ packaging when they noticed that Serif TV users were placing their set-top box, small furniture, and electric devices under their TV as if it were a cabinet. This led them to the idea to use TVs’ strong cardboard packaging to make small, long-lasting furniture, which became the foundation for a new type of ‘eco-packaging.’

Eco-packaging’s manufacturing process is mostly the same as that of other packaging, but also includes the application of a dotted pattern that helps users assemble the packaging into furniture. Although adding the dotted patterns sounds easy and could be achieved by simply printing graphics, the task presented some difficulties as well. The thicknesses and specifications of the cardboard boxes varied slightly by country, which entailed continuous communication with various parties. “Although we faced many difficulties when making the eco-packaging, we managed to do a great job thanks to the efforts of many people, including the Graphics Team,” said Sungdo Son, a Samsung Electronics designer.

Easy to Make, Beautiful to Behold

Simple steps for assembling the furniture can be found on the website embedded in the QR code printed on the side of the eco-packaging. “The website, which was recently updated, not only offers instructions on how to make furniture, but also provides an overall introduction to eco-packaging with relevant videos,” said Son. “We’ve arranged the website based on difficulty, so users can choose the type of furniture they’d like to make depending on their skill level.”

The cardboard furniture displayed on the website are all items that were chosen by designers who actually tried making them themselves. “When we focused on aesthetics, it became difficult to make the furniture, and the designs often didn’t end up being very useful,” said Son. “On the other hand, when the furniture was too easy to make, it didn’t look so great. We also got rid of any furniture designs that could potentially create safety issues.”

Samsung’s safety- and environmentally conscious eco-packaging has gone beyond lifestyle TVs and is now being applied across the company’s entire 2021 TV lineup. The employees involved in developing the eco-packaging hope that it will eventually reach much more consumers, and will help encourage them to contribute to environmental conservation in any way they can. “Samsung is known for producing technologically advanced products, but I want others to know that Samsung also believes that little things like these matter, and we are working on them as well,” said Son.

¹ According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2020 by Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), the amount of electronic waste in 2019 was 53.6 million metric tons (Mt).

² 2020 global annual TV sales figures are based on findings from market research firm OMDIA.

³ Compared to remote controls of Samsung Electronics’ 2020 TV models.

⁴ Emissions of general plastics: 2.15 kg CO2/kg; emissions of recycled plastics: 1.47 kg CO2/kg; a reduction in CO2 emissions of 31 percent (based on a Lotte Chemical LCA evaluation)

The EPA annually recognizes the top performers within its SMM Program. SMM Electronics Challenge participants are rethinking product life cycles, committing to innovative and responsible electronics management, and reducing environmental impacts. The 2020 SMM Electronics Challenge Award winners will be recognized at a virtual award ceremony later today.

“Samsung is humbled by the EPA’s recognition of our long-term commitment to the proper collection and recycling of e-waste in the United States and the sustainable design innovations that we continue to drive in product packaging,” said Mark Newton, Head of Corporate Sustainability for Samsung Electronics America. “We will continue to make investments to further our environmental stewardship practices and reduce our impact on climate change as we strive towards a greener and better tomorrow.”

“The Electronics Challenge award winners are corporate role models creating new products that show environmental improvement can go hand-in-hand with other technological advances. EPA encourages others to follow their lead by implementing similar innovative approaches,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.

Samsung is one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers and fully embraces the responsibility that comes with our market position to effect change on a large scale to protect the environment. The EPA SMM Gold Tier Award acknowledges our excellence in e-waste collection throughout the U.S. Samsung annually collects and recycles approximately 100 million pounds of e-waste. Since 2008, we’ve recycled over a billion pounds of electronics, diverting them from U.S. landfills and recovering reusable materials.

The EPA SMM Champion Award in the Program Category recognizes Samsung’s innovative Galaxy S10 packaging strategies for its use of material in a more environmentally responsible way. The smartphone’s plastic-free box and interior packaging have been redesigned to reduce its environmental footprint and consume fewer resources. For example, the packaging includes an all-in-one pulp mold for the device and its components to minimize waste. Other adjustments include replacing plastic ties with paper materials. These design change have contributed to making the Galaxy S10’s packaging 32g lighter than that of its predecessors – a 16% packaging weight reduction.

For more information about Samsung’s sustainability efforts, click here, and to learn more about the EPA, please visit www.epa.gov.

Samsung Electronics shared its vision for the future at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The company introduced new products at its virtual press conference, showing how it’s continuing to innovate by creating solutions that are flexible, intelligently connected, and use AI to understand context to make daily life seamless.

“Our world looks different, and many of you have been faced with a new reality–one where, among other things, your home has taken on a greater significance,” said Sebastian Seung, President and Head of Samsung Research, the advanced R&D hub of the company that leads the development of future technologies for Samsung Electronics’ SET (end-products), addressing the company’s efforts to enhance the at-home technology experience. “Our innovations are designed to provide more personal and more intuitive experiences that express your personality. We’re hard at work to bring you next-generation innovation, with AI as the core enabler, for your better tomorrow.”

Creating More Intimate and Personalized User Experiences

As people spent more time at home last year, the tech they wanted became the tech they needed. In relying on that tech, people came to understand many ways connected solutions could make life easier. TVs were vital for entertainment—and sometimes, fitness. Chromebooks became crucial home learning tools. Smart fridges helped with remote shopping and meal prep. Smartphones were indispensable.

Samsung’s continued investments in innovations that adapt to evolving lifestyles enable the company to keep pace with rapid changes. Key innovations unveiled include:

• Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex: The latest version of the Bespoke refrigerator features changeable panels that come with a choice of colors and materials that made the original a success, allowing consumers to adjust their fridge for form and function. The new 4-Door model, available in North America this spring, also includes a brand-new Beverage Center, which gives quick access to a water dispenser and an automatically-filled water pitcher. Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex also comes equipped with a Dual Auto Ice Maker which makes not only regular cubed ice but also smaller ‘ice bites’ to suit different preferences for cold beverages.

• 110-inch MICRO LED: This new screen features self-lit inorganic LED with a slim and nearly bezel-less Infinity Screen design that seamlessly blends into the living space. The result is a spectacularly immersive viewing experience with astounding picture quality. The 110-inch MICRO LED also adds “4Vue” (Quad View), a four-way viewing option—so you can keep up with multiple sports at once, or stream a tutorial while playing a video game. Also, for US consumers, more than 160 free channels¹ are available through Samsung TV Plus. MICRO LED will be rolled out globally beginning this spring.²

• Lifestyle TV: Samsung’s cutting-edge lifestyle TV lineup includes The Serif, The Frame, The Sero and The Terrace—a recently launched 4K QLED outdoor TV—as well as Samsung The Premiere, a cinema-like quality 4K laser projector.

• SmartThings Cooking: A new service from Samsung SmartThings is designed to make your culinary journey seamless. An automatic Meal Planner powered by Whisk’s Food AI recommends meals for the whole week, makes shopping lists with the ingredients you need, and connects to grocery retailers for one-stop shopping straight from the Family Hub refrigerator or your mobile screen. Recipe instructions can be sent directly to synced Samsung cooking devices to minimize hassles and mistakes.³

• Samsung Health Smart Trainer on Samsung 2021 TVs: Samsung Health seamlessly transforms the home into a personal gym, and the new Smart Trainer⁴ feature tracks and analyzes posture in real time, just like a personal trainer. During and post-workout, Smart Trainer provides feedback on form, helps you count your reps, and estimates calories burned. With video and interactive training via Bixby-enabled voice control, Samsung Health Smart Trainer elevates and personalizes the home workout experience.

Bringing AI and Robots to Daily Life Including Housekeeping

Samsung has long been at the forefront of AI and robotics innovation, leveraging its seven global AI research centers to advance technology. By bringing AI to its products, Samsung is creating new home experiences—from washing machines that optimize water usage, detergents, and wash cycles, to TVs with a Quantum AI Processor that can upscale HD content into pristine 8K resolution.

The major technologies featured during Samsung’s press conference include the following:

• JetBot 90 AI+: Coming to the US 1H 2021, this new vacuum cleaner uses object recognition technology to identify and classify objects to decide the best cleaning path. LiDAR and 3D sensors allow JetBot 90 AI+ to avoid cables and small objects, while still cleaning hard-to-reach corners in your home. Also outfitted with a camera, JetBot 90 AI+ is integrated with the SmartThings app to assist you with home monitoring.

• Samsung Bot Care⁵: The latest development in Samsung’s growing robotics lineup, Samsung Bot Care is designed use AI to recognize and respond to your behavior. It will be able to act as both a robotic assistant and companion, helping to take care of the details in your life. It will also learn your schedule and habits and send you reminders to help guide you throughout your busy day.

• Samsung Bot Handy⁶: Also in development, Samsung Bot Handy will rely on advanced AI to recognize and pick up objects of varying sizes, shapes and weights, becoming an extension of you and helping you with work around the house. Samsung Bot Handy will be able to tell the difference between the material composition of various objects, utilizing the appropriate amount of force to grab and move around household items and objects, working as your trusted partner to help with house chores like cleaning up messy rooms or sorting out the dishes after a meal.

Looking to the future, Samsung is also developing other tangible applications of AI technologies for daily life. Samsung is continuing to build on its Samsung Bot Retail, which would guide users outside the home in retail environments, and GEMS, Samsung’s health-focused exoskeleton as mobility aide. These innovations allow robots and robotic devices to co-exist with humans, enhancing their lives and catering to a variety of lifestyles and different environments.

Technology for a Better Future

Samsung closed its CES 2021 press conference by sharing more on the brand’s vision for how technology can enable progress and create a better tomorrow for all. Samsung believes that there is no single all-encompassing solution; a sustainable future requires investments across a broad spectrum. That’s why Samsung is focused on three key areas that are poised to benefit the most from technological innovation: sustainability, education, and accessibility.

“At Samsung, we are always looking for ways to build a better, more sustainable future,” said Sandeep Rana, Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability Specialist at Samsung, who shared Samsung’s sustainability message at the press conference. “With a focus on the environment, people and society, we will continue to provide our consumers with responsible tools and technologies to address our challenges today and enable a better future for all.”

As part of its commitment to creating a circular economy, Samsung is developing programs and packaging solutions that promote a sustainable product lifecycle—from beginning to end:

• Galaxy Upcycling at Home: At the event, Samsung announced an update to its Galaxy Upcycling program called Galaxy Upcycling at Home. The new program reimagines the lifecycle of an older Galaxy phone and offers consumers options on how they might be able to repurpose their device to create a variety of convenient IoT tools.

• TV Eco Packaging: Additionally, Samsung announced that its eco-packaging would expand to QLED, UHD TV, monitor, and audio products in 2021. As part of an ongoing commitment to eco-consciousness, Samsung is creating products and solutions with sustainability at the core. For example, Samsung’s new Solar Cell Remote Control—made in part with recycled plastic—can be charged via solar or indoor lighting, reducing battery waste.

Believing that future generations will play a critical role in building a sustainable future, Samsung has also prioritized technology education through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, which encourages young people to creatively use technology to solve community challenges, and Samsung Innovation Campus, which helps students develop technical and personal skills for future jobs.

Samsung also highlighted at the event how it is making its products even more inclusive and accessible for all. The SeeColors application is designed to help those with color vision deficiency (CVD) to adjust the settings on their 2021 QLED TVs for a better viewing experience, and the Sign Language Zoom feature on TVs ensures that everyone, regardless of ability, can easily enjoy cutting-edge technology.

Lastly, understanding how challenging it can be to strike a balance between our digital and analog lives, Samsung presented the Digital Wellbeing feature, designed to help people take control and manage their digital time—so they can use technology to better our lives and empower ourselves.

For more information, images or video on the products Samsung announced at CES 2021, please visit http://news.samsung.com.

¹ 160 free channels for Samsung TV Plus are available for US users only. The Service availability may vary by region and product.

² Availability of MICRO LED TV will vary by region.

³ Available on Android and iOS devices. A Wi-Fi connection and a Samsung account are required.

⁴ Specific features available may vary by region and product.

⁵ Samsung Bot Care is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

⁶ Samsung Bot Handy is not currently available for sale. The described functions and technical capabilities have been demonstrated in test settings.

Disclaimer: All functionality, features, specifications, and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation. Availability of the above-mentioned products, services, and features may vary by region.

Sustainability has always been a central theme for us designers; we understand the crucial role design plays when it comes to creating a sustainable future. So at a time when caring for our environment has become ever more important, let us take the opportunity to commemorate World Environment Day by sharing our vision for a better tomorrow through design.

Don-tae Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of the Corporate Design Center at Samsung Electronics

It will certainly take time to fully achieve environmental sustainability in a way that everyone can benefit from. For many, environmental issues may have been difficult to relate to until they’ve started to experience tangible changes in their daily lives, such as using air purifiers due to fine dust problems or wearing masks to prevent the spread of viral diseases. From a design perspective, even if initiatives such as waste minimization, upcycling and energy efficiency maximization are put into place, there is still always more to be done. On top of this, designers always need to consider the aesthetics of their design in addition to its environmental footprint.

There are three main principles behind the concept of sustainable design. The first is the Eco-design Process. This is where eco-friendly initiatives, such as low energy consumption and high energy efficiency, are implemented throughout the entirety of a concept’s design process, from planning through to development. An example of this would be the upcycling approach Samsung harnessed when producing special edition Galaxy S20+ cases. In order to develop cases that utilized end-of-life PET water bottles, Samsung partnered with premium Danish textile brand Kvadrat. The collaboration saw over two years of sustainable development and planning to ensure that the end products would be both aesthetically relevant and eco-friendly. The resulting manufacture process differed from that of conventional cases in that it harnessed recycled yarns to create a substantial material to work with; from sourcing these recycled materials to ensuring the products passed Samsung’s stringent reliability standards, the entire design process had sustainability built into it.

Samsung’s sustainable Galaxy S20+ cases, created in collaboration with Kvadrat

The second key principle of sustainable design is to create resonance with those who use the products by involving consumers’ considerations in the eco-design process. Samsung’s recently introduced ‘eco-packaging’ for its global lifestyle TV products is one such example. The innovative cardboard packaging, which serves both as protection for the TV product and can also be used in numerous ways as a piece of sustainable furniture, was developed out of the understanding that, when consumers purchased TVs, they were also often purchasing other furniture items for their homes at the same time. In order to give these consumers more eco-friendly furnishing options, the TV’s packaging comes with easy-to-follow DIY instructions on how to transform the versatile cardboard into a standalone shelf, a TV table or even a cat house. The end goal of this was to give consumers more options when looking to take part in environmental protection – and to help them avoid being wasteful.

Samsung’s lifestyle TV packaging can be repurposed to serve as a cat house

The final principle is to give consumers the tools they need to make real changes to their lifestyles towards living sustainably and protecting the environment. Samsung’s SmartThings Energy¹, part of Samsung’s IoT platform SmartThings, is a service that allows users to easily and comprehensively monitor their home’s electricity consumption. The service is designed to provide users with a more grounded understanding of their energy consumption and the effects their energy reduction efforts can have, as it provides this information in the form of visualizations. Such a service is capable of raising its users’ awareness of sustainable living and encouraging them to take steps towards more eco-friendly behavior.

In 1996, Samsung elevated design to being one of the company’s core competencies, and since then the company has consistently placed users at the center of its design philosophy. This is in line with Samsung’s mission of contributing to a better global society; if a sustainable society is not the end goal, then what use does any such action have? This is why the company opened design studios all over the world, including in Seoul, San Francisco, London, New Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo and São Paulo to research and study emerging sustainable design and lifestyle trends. Today, over 1,500 of our designers are studying sustainable development and design and collaborating to find solutions that are able to meet the company’s high sustainability expectations.

Samsung Electronics will continue to develop products and solutions that reflect the concerns of consumers who value ethical consumption and environmentally-friendly initiatives. We will also keep working towards creating a sustainable future for all with eco-friendly designs that have the consumer at their core.

¹ Currently only available in South Korea

by Don-tae Lee

[Executive Vice President and Head of the Corporate Design Center at Samsung Electronics]