While we’ve finally learned to wash our hands regularly and thoroughly because of this pandemic, we need to learn another important habit: sterilizing our mobile devices. We come into contact with our smartphones more than any other item we own and so it’s important that we keep them clean regularly as well. Samsung previously announced a UV Sterilizer for smartphones in Thailand but it looks like it’s now available in more countries and will continue to roll out globally in the coming weeks.
The Samsung UV Sterilizer will not just kill 99% of bacteria and germs using UV lamps (or so they claim) but it will also wirelessly charge your device will doing so. The important purpose though of this device is to get rid of things like E. coli, Staphylococcus Aureus, and Candida albicans. Samsung didn’t specifically say that it will kill the coronavirus but previous sources have stated that UV light can “probably” kill it since it destroyed other coronaviruses. There’s not much evidence though that it can kill the specific virus that causes COVID-19
In any case, it is still hygienic practice anyway to clean your smartphone. You can put in your smartphone (as long as it’s not bigger than 196 x 96 x 33mm as well as other things like glasses, smartwatches, earbuds, and other smaller objects. It will sterilize your item from top to bottom in just 10 minutes and then turn off so it will not damage whatever is inside with too much UV light as too much UV will of course harm people and things.
Even after it’s turned off, it can continue to wirelessly charge your Qi-enabled smartphone or earphones or smartwatch. It can supply a maximum 10W of power so it’s not really that much but it can juice up your device while and after it’s getting cleaned. This is manufactured by Samsung C&T, a partner of the Samsung Mobile Accessory Partnership Program and is now more widely available.
Initially, it was only announced in Thailand but now we’re seeing product pages in Germany, Romania, Singapore, and HongKong, with more to be announced soon. It is priced around $50 in Thailand and around $65 in Germany but no official SRP has been announced in other parts.
