South Africa, Johannesburg – 27 January, 2022 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 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 customisable 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 customisable 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 realising 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].

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 minimise 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 utilise 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 minimise 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 customise 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 customisation 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 customise their space to suit their style and needs.

Samsung is constantly exploring ways to harness customisation to help users get more out of their devices. The #YouMake Project represents the culmination of those efforts empowering consumers to choose and customise products based on what matters most to them, so they can enjoy a more personalised 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 customisation 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 organisation 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-personalised, 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 characterise its approach to innovation. That commitment is not only realised 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/za/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.}

(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

 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 21 June 2021 –Did you know that out of the more than 50 million^[1] 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 minimise waste.

Driven by a desire to keep our planet clean for generations to come, Samsung 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’ favourite 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.^[1]

[1] 2020 global annual TV sales figures are based on findings from market research firm OMDIA.

▲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 utilised 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 utilise 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.^[1] 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.”

[1] Compared to remote controls of Samsung Electronics’ 2020 TV models.

Making the design of the typical TV remote control, which has remained unchanged until now, more sustainable was no simple task. The colour of the solar panel was already determined, so it was difficult to apply various colours 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 grey, so if we used a colour 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 50g device is comprised of 28 percent recycled plastic. Samsung has been utilising 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 utilise 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 15 percent less CO2 than products made from non-recycled plastics. In an effort to maximise its use of eco-friendly materials, Samsung also explores ways to utilise waste that has been thrown indiscriminately into the sea. “Twenty percent of the waste that gets thrown into the sea is plastic bottles,” said Han. “That coastal waste is called OBP material, and we can use it to produce electronics.”

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 utilises 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 start-up 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 line-up. 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.

One such use of the upcycling-friendly Eco Packaging is to craft pet homes with, a process that is made easy thanks to the packaging’s dot design for simple measurement taking and the user manual available via a quick scan of the QR code inside the packaging.

In order to see this process in action, watch veterinarian and animal trainer Sul Chae Hyun construct an eco-friendly new sleeping spot for his beloved rescue dog in the video.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 02 June 2021 – As working from home becomes more commonplace around the world, people are increasingly looking to arrange their workspace so that they can work productively, comfortably and efficiently. But despite our best efforts, sometimes our personal devices don’t offer the capability to review multiple files at once or switch easily between multiple windows as we might require.

This is where Samsung’s high-resolution monitor, the S65UA, comes in. The 34-inch wide screen with 21:9 aspect ratio can help you enjoy a ‘work-from-home’ experience that mirrors the one you have in your office, as you can easily work across web browsers, document files and messenger programs at once – all on one screen.

The spacious desktop screen of the S65UA lets you multitask efficiently and smartly without any extra accessories or clutter on your desk, and its ergonomic stand design lets you customise your setup according to your home working environment. In order to take a closer look at the benefits of the S65UA for those working at home, Samsung Global Newsroom tried out some of its leading features.

Easy Installation and Upcycling-Friendly Packaging

After purchasing new electronic devices such as monitors, we are often left with a plethora of packaging boxes and materials to have to deal with once installation is complete. However, the S65UA comes with upcycling-friendly eco-packaging, meaning you can transform the monitor’s packaging into various practical tools, including objects for your pets and small furniture.

The S65UA’s eco-friendly packaging user manual is also simple to access and easy to use. Simply open up the packaging box, take out the components, and then flatten out the box. With your smartphone, scan the QR code that is printed on the side of the box, and you’ll see a detailed guide to installation. The cardboard packaging box comes with a special dot design that lays out the box’s dimensions in dots rather than centimetres. This means that anyone can create furniture without the need for extra tools to accurately measure the packaging’s lengths.

The next step is to install the monitor itself. The S65UA monitor comes with a stand base, stand neck, power cable, HDMI cable, and USD Type-C cable, so firstly, check you have all the components you need to continue.

The ensuing installation can be roughly divided into two steps. First, put the rectangle-shaped stand base onto the long stand neck and tightly fasten the connecting screw at the bottom of the stand base. When assembling the monitor, all you need to do is just tightly fasten the big screw in the middle. Secondly, simply push the assembled stand base and neck into the back part of the main body, and you’re done. Gently push it upward and you’ll hear a “click” noise, which means you’re all done with the assembly.¹

After purchasing new electronic devices such as monitors, we are often left with a plethora of packaging boxes and materials to have to deal with once installation is complete. However, the S65UA comes with upcycling-friendly eco-packaging, meaning you can transform the monitor’s packaging into various practical tools, including objects for your pets and small furniture.

The S65UA’s eco-friendly packaging user manual is also simple to access and easy to use. Simply open up the packaging box, take out the components, and then flatten out the box. With your smartphone, scan the QR code that is printed on the side of the box, and you’ll see a detailed guide to installation. The cardboard packaging box comes with a special dot design that lays out the box’s dimensions in dots rather than centimetres. This means that anyone can create furniture without the need for extra tools to accurately measure the packaging’s lengths.

The next step is to install the monitor itself. The S65UA monitor comes with a stand base, stand neck, power cable, HDMI cable, and USD Type-C cable, so firstly, check you have all the components you need to continue.

The ensuing installation can be roughly divided into two steps. First, put the rectangle-shaped stand base onto the long stand neck and tightly fasten the connecting screw at the bottom of the stand base. When assembling the monitor, all you need to do is just tightly fasten the big screw in the middle. Secondly, simply push the assembled stand base and neck into the back part of the main body, and you’re done. Gently push it upward and you’ll hear a “click” noise, which means you’re all done with the assembly.¹

The S65UA comes with a variety of port types to allow for multifaceted connectivity. Whatever connectivity needs you might have; you can easily connect your monitor to your other devices. In particular, the USB Type-C port can be used to connect portable devices such as smartphones and laptops. With a single cable alone, you can go beyond just connecting the device to the display monitor and enjoy up to 90W charging and fast 10Gbps data transmission for both convenience and versatility.

Customisable Height with an Ergonomic Stand

Productivity can directly be linked to the environment one works in. Even if a device possesses the best performance specs, if it doesn’t match the user’s posture or field of sight, it will become uncomfortable to use after a while. This is why the S65UA comes with a Height Adjustable Stand (HAS), which lets you quickly and easily adjust the height of the monitor by up to 120.00mm (±5.0mm). Simply hold the connecting part of the stand at the back of the monitor and move the monitor up and down to easily and smoothly adjust the height of your screen.

When using the monitor at its highest possible height, you’ll notice that you have extra desk space beneath it to utilise or decorate according to your preference, whether you’re looking for a space to store those extra files or to place some small plants and other flora.

The S65UA also comes with a swivel feature that lets you rotate the monitor to each side by up to 30.0˚(±2.0˚) to further enhance your work productivity. Regardless of which side of the monitor the user is at, the user can rotate their monitor in order to look at the entire screen. This feature also helps you utilise the space you have more effectively. When adjusting the monitor angle, it’s a good idea to gently hold the bezel rather than the display to gently adjust the monitor.

The S65UA monitor opens up more desk space once you’ve oriented it to your desired place, making work productivity and even cooperative work much more convenient. Regardless of how many people are surrounding the monitor, you can quickly and seamlessly peruse the monitor as needed to examine it. Not only does this harness the 178-degree wide viewing angle of the S65UA to its full potential, but it also lets you check the content on-screen instantaneously.

Sitting in front of a monitor for a long time can put unwanted pressure on your body – and a lot of this has to do with our posture in front of screens. If you become used to slouching with your neck leaning forward, the surrounding muscles can become stiff and painful. But thanks to the tilt functionality of the S65UA, you can find the perfect angle to keep you sitting straight and reduce the pressure on your muscles.

Unlike traditional monitors that may have been too tall or too short for optimal viewing experiences, the monitor adjustment capabilities of the S65UA make for a working environment that is more comfortable. What’s more, when taking a break and settling in to watch a movie on-screen for an extended period of time, you can then adjust your monitor some more for the most comfortable viewing experience.

A Wide Screen for All Activities

The S65UA offers a wide screen experience that doesn’t affect your field of sight thanks to its 1,000R display curvature for eye comfort and Ultra-Wide Quad High-Definition (QHD) (3,440 x 1,440) resolution. In addition, the monitor delivers more than 1 billion colours enhanced by HDR10 technology, resulting in true-to-life images and next-level immersion. Whether it’s the dew drops on plant leaves or the small wrinkles on flower petals, the display shows images in vivid, vibrant picture quality, with all colours from light to dark presented without any light blur or clarity obscuration. This creates the best possible viewing conditions for when you need to concentrate on on-screen details, such as when you are playing a game or watching media content.

Those who are accustomed to using dual monitors in the office will find the Easy Setting Box particularly useful. By pressing the control panel button, located on the back of the logo below the middle part of the monitor, you can choose the best aspect ratio from various options whenever you want. Also, Picture By Picture(PBP) shows two input sources on the same screen side by side along with the Picture In Picture (PIP) feature which enables you to open up a small pop-up window within your screen.

Unlike when you have to use multiple monitors to complete a task, there is no need for you to deal with height or colour differences across screens, and you can enjoy the near gapless continuity of the monitor’s virtually borderless design for uninterrupted and seamless working experiences.

New to the 2021 monitor line-up, Adaptive Picture eye care technology automatically adjusts the brightness and colour temperature of your screen to one of 42 levels when the environment you are in changes – for example, when your surroundings become darker after working in a bright environment, the monitor adjusts its settings in response to the room conditions. If you’d like to reduce blue light emissions which cause eye strain, you can turn on the special Eye Saver mode by pressing the control panel button. What’s more, Flicker Free technology, which reduces the flickering on the screen to protect your vision, also comes in helpful to maintain your eye health.

In times like this when the home has become blurred with the workplace, the ‘best monitor’ has evolved to become the one that is able to be flexible in response to the user’s environment and delivers the best performance wherever it may be. As well as encouraging you to strike the best balance between work and play while working from home, the S65UA helps increase your work efficiency with ease and comfort.

¹ When assembling the monitor, please refer to the user manual that comes with the product.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 22 September, 2020. Last April, Samsung introduced its new ‘eco-packaging’ – a new kind of product packaging that facilitates the upcycling of the boxes that come with the company’s global lifestyle TV models, which include ‘The Frame,’ ‘The Serif’ and ‘The Sero’. The special cardboard boxes are designed to allow consumers to upcycle the packaging their televisions come in into small, versatile pieces of furniture. The thick, corrugated cardboard that the packaging is comprised of can be used to construct small tables and shelves, and building instructions can be accessed by scanning QR codes on the outsides of the boxes.

Samsung Newsroom interviewed the designers from Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business who, in developing the new eco-packaging, sought to “not only work to develop an outstanding product, but also to realise the promise of environmental sustainability.”

Eco-Packaging – Inspired by the Way People Use Their TVs

Eco-packaging designers, Daehee Yoon from the Product Design Group (left) and Jonathan Whang from the Future Experience Design Group

“Mustn’t there be a way to turn TV packaging into something useful, rather than just disposing of it?” The development of the eco-packaging initiative began with this simple question. “Nowadays, more and more consumers are interested in protecting the environment,” explained designer Daehee Yoon, “With eco-packaging, they could realise environmental protection simply by purchasing goods like they usually would. That was the idea that drove us.”

However, the core idea of reusing packaging material was not enough by itself – concrete measures were required to truly realise the designers’ vision. While the designers were planning the project, the ways in which consumers were using The Serif gave them an idea. Many consumers who were buying the new TV were also purchasing additional drawers or cabinets in which to store their television accessories. “With this in mind, we began to study corrugated cardboard products in the market and visit producers of small furniture,” explained designer Jonathan Whang.

‘Dot Pattern’ Matrix Design – Making DIY Easy

While making a product aesthetically pleasing is important, designers can never lose sight of usability. Therefore, for the eco-packaging designers, the goal was to develop a product that not only met the brief but was also both easy to use and durable. At first, the designers thought of cutting guiding lines into the cardboard and providing printed plans. However, they soon realised that such methods could limit the number of building methods made available and lead to goods sustaining damage during delivery.

Eventually, the designers came up with the ‘dot pattern’ design. By printing a dot matrix directly onto the cardboard, users would receive easy-to-follow guidance for upcycling, and the product would be protected, all with barely any additional costs or carbon emissions incurred. “One out of every five dots is larger than the others, and the number of dots serves as the unit of measurement,” explained Yoon, “This makes building your own upcycled furniture easy and accessible, and additionally makes the furniture look good once it’s built.”

Sungdo Son, one of the designers from Future Experience Design Group

In addition to facilitating upcycling, the eco-packaging initiative provides paperless electronic manuals with a wide range of building plans that can be accessed by scanning QR codes printed on the tops of the boxes. “The QR codes enable you to access building manuals swiftly without the need to install an app,” Sungdo Son related, “The electronic format also makes it easier to add and modify plans.”

Innovative Sustainability

Printing dots on boxes and providing digital building plans might sound quite straightforward. However, the designers faced a significant challenge when it came to developing plans that were easy to follow and a final product that was both durable and attractive. “We had to change our strategy several times over before we eventually came up with a final solution that ticked all the boxes,” explained Whang.

Elaborating on what the building experience is like for consumers, Whang related that, “The level of building expertise required and the time it takes to build each respective piece of furniture are noted in the manuals so that consumers can make informed choices about what to make with their packaging. After the eco-packaging was distributed, it was interesting to see how much the final products varied in terms of shape and appearance, even though they were built using the same sets of plans.”

(From left) Designers Jonathan Whang, Sungdo Son and Daehee Yoon holding pieces of furniture constructed with eco-packaging

Commenting on the eco-packaging initiative, the designers said, “Although our eco-packaging may not bring about a drastic reduction in paper waste, we hope that our efforts will seek to increase awareness for the relevant environmental issues.” It was this wider conscientiousness that contributed to the team winning a ‘CES Innovation Award’ in 2020.

What’s more, the story of the eco-packaging initiative has not drawn to a close yet. “We are cooperating with Dezeen, a lifestyle design magazine based in the U.K., to hold an eco-packaging design competition, which will be open to all,” reports Son. “The participants will be asked to create designs for different types of eco-packaging using environmentally friendly materials and corrugated cardboard.”

At the 2019 Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge awards ceremony, hosted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Samsung received the Champion and Tier Awards, and at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovation Awards, Samsung was recognised as this year’s winner for promoting efficient resource use.

Samsung wins the EPA’s annual SMM Award. Jenni Chun (center-left), Head of Regulatory & Environmental Affairs, Samsung Electronics America, receives the Gold Tier Award. Kyungmo Yang (center-right), Manager of Galaxy Upcycling Program, Samsung Electronics, receives the Cutting Edge Champion Award.

A Winning Commitment to a Circular Economy

The SMM Electronics Challenge, hosted since 2014, is the EPA’s annual awards ceremony recognising participants for their commitment to sustainable materials management and the responsible recycling, honoring those companies who, in the US, voluntarily engage in recycling programs. Honours are awarded in two categories, the Champion Award for products, non-products and new technologies that are harnessed in environmentally conscious ways, and the Tier Award for recycling activities. This year, Samsung won awards in both categories, and on January 8, several leading Samsung figures attended the SMM Electronics Challenge awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

In the Champion Award category, Samsung received its third Cutting-Edge Award since the award’s creation in 2016, which recognises participants for pioneering ideas in electronics sustainability. The company was recognised for the Galaxy Upcycling project, a project dedicated to reusing end-of-life mobile phones for both environmental protection and societal gain.

The award-winning Galaxy Upcycling project transforms obsolete mobile phones no longer in use into internet-of-things (IoT) devices with the power to benefit underserved communities; since 2017, the project has, in partnership with Korean medical researchers, harnessed recycled smartphone devices for the development of portable eye examination equipment. In 2017, the project won the SMM Cutting-Edge Award for the first time, and last year supplied 90 portable ophthalmoscopes for use in Vietnam, benefitting the lives and vision of around 14,000 residents.

In the Tier Award category, Samsung has, for the sixth year in a row, been awarded Gold, an honour bestowed upon only those companies that send at least 96% of all used electronics to certified third-party recyclers. Samsung was recognised for collecting and recycling 60,000 tons of waste electronics in 2018, along with once again only making contracts with only those vendors certified by e-Stewards, a third-party certification management program for electronics recyclers. Furthermore, the company actively participates in eCycling, a voluntary e-waste collection program for companies organised by the CTA (Consumer Technology Association).

Innovating Sustainability

At this year’s CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, Samsung received a wide range of honors at the CES Innovation Awards, with products and services from display technologies to mobile devices awarded for standing out in the industry as leading, innovative solutions. Among these, Samsung’s The Serif Eco-Packaging design has been recognised for promoting the efficient use of resources.

The Eco-Packaging design allows consumers to upcycle the packaging of a product into small, versatile pieces of furniture. Once they have assembled their devices, consumers can repurpose the thick corrugated cardboard packaging into small tables or shelves, guided by manuals available by scanning a QR code on the box. This packaging is to be rolled out with Samsung’s TV line The Serif within the first half of 2020.

Also, ahead of this year’s CES, Samsung on January 4 hosted an e-waste collection event where attendees could dispose of their obsolete electronics, free of charge. Samsung has been hosting this e-waste recycling event annually since 2017.