New Samsung SolarCell remote moves us closer to having no remote at all

Samsung's SolarCell TV remote is one of the company's key components to reducing waste and achieving its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The SolarCell remote, released in 2021, has already left a positive mark by eliminating the need for disposable batteries. And this year, the SolarCell TV remote got updated with a slicker design.

Every Lifestyle TV released by Samsung this year comes with an updated 2023 SolarCell remote. Its purpose is to reduce plastic waste, recycle more materials, and eliminate the need for disposable batteries. And for the 2023 model, Samsung worked on reducing the remote's overall size, which means the company used less plastic.

TV remotes could become a thing of the past

Through an interview with the creators of the SolarCell remote, Samsung confirmed that the 2023 model is 22% smaller than the previous iteration. Furthermore, the SolarCell remote uses more recycled materials, and since Samsung has an annual SolarCell remote production of roughly 10 million units, the company managed to recycle more than 55 tons of waste.

Components such as the top and bottom covers, and the navigation and volume keys contain 30% recycled plastics. Even the SolarCell bracket uses 20% recycled ocean-bound plastics from discarded fishing nets.

Hyun Joo Kim says continuing to move in the direction of light, thin, and small designs will allow Samsung to create an even more eco-conscious TV remote. So, even though the SolarCell remote is pretty clever, clean, and high-tech, the company's ultimate goal is to reduce the use of materials, save energy, and create products that users can control with minimal effort.

Interestingly, the company says “This could mean one day we get rid of the remote control entirely.” Whether this means Samsung TV remotes could be entirely replaced by mobile phones, voice controls, or some other type of technology is unclear. Either way, SolarCell remotes are slowly moving us closer to the future, and ironically, that future might not have any TV remotes at all.