Samsung now sells a wireless charger ‘that STERILISES your phone with UV light in 10 minutes’
SAMSUNG is selling a charger that promises to sterilise your phone while it’s juicing up the battery.
The wireless charging pad uses UV light to eradicate “up to 99 per cent of bacteria within 10 minutes”, according to the South Korean tech titan.
Phones are among the filthiest things we own, with some studies suggesting the average mobile is ten times dirtier than a toilet seat.
That grim reality has come into the limelight during the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced billions of people to take extra care to keep their surroundings clean of viruses and other pathogens.
Samsung’s new charger, dubbed the ITFIT UV Sterilizer, is a white box that the firm says is big enough to fit one of its chunky Galaxy S20 smartphones.
The device will sterilise mobiles not built by Samsung, but it won’t necessarily charge them too.
Once you’ve placed your gadget inside, simply hit the switch and the Sterilizer will blast your device with ultraviolet radiation.
Samsung doesn’t specifically state that the charger kills the COVID-19 virus, but studies have shown UV lamps can kill more than 99.9 per cent of airborne coronaviruses.
Of course, the device also features a 10W QI charger that juices up your phone while it’s getting a clean.
That means you’ll need a mobile with wireless charging capabilities to get the full benefit of the Sterilizer – though most modern smartphones do.
Samsung – a brief history
Here's what you need to know...
- Samsung is a major South Korean company made up of many businesses that operate globally
- It’s known locally as a “chaebol”, which means “business conglomerate”
- It was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company
- But over several decades, it branched out into food processing, insurance, textiles and retail
- It wasn’t until the late 1960s when Samsung entered the electronics industry – for which it’s best known in the west today
- It also launched businesses in construction and shipbuilding in the 1970s
- Today, Samsung’s most important sources of income are its smartphones and computer chips
- The firm accounts for around a fifth of South Korea’s total exports, and roughly 17% of the country’s GDP
- More than 320,000 staff are employed by Samsung globally
- And in 2017, Samsung turned over the equivalent of £174billion today in revenue
The twist is that Samsung is only selling the device in Thailand for now.
It’s going for the equivalent of about £40 ($50). It’s not clear whether the charger will ever hit shelves in the US or UK.
Quick-fix cleaning technology has unsurprisingly boomed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
In May, Ford revealed it was kitting its latest vehicles with a 56C “oven mode” that heats the car’s interior to wipe out lingering viruses.
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