Samsung used its “Bringing Calm to Our Connected World” event at CES 2023 to focus on how the company is stressing sustainability and how its SmartThings smarter products can make a smart home smarter.
Inhee Chung, VP of Samsung’s Corporate Sustainability Center, detailed the company’s own targets for net zero energy use—its Device eXperience division will transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2027 with a target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030—and the use of recycled materials, especially reducing and reusing ocean and microplastic in its products, all in service to helping achieve the net zero home, what Chung called “everyday sustainability.”
“I see innovation as a catalyst to a more sustainable future. That means technology that lowers carbon emissions, products that reduce their environmental impact and partnerships that bring about meaningful change,” Chung told the crowd. “Our most popular products are now some of our most sustainable.”
EPA representative James Kwon noted that Samsung’s Connected Home Experience is the first mass market smart home energy management system to earn Energy Star certification.
To help reduce microplastics, Samsung announced a new washing machine filter, available in the U.S. this year, that will reduce microfiber pollution by 54 percent.
On the connectivity side, Samsung’s EVP head of SmartThings, Jaeyeon Jung, introduced a new smaller SmartThings Station hub with built-in Qi wireless charging that includes a button to program and trigger routines. Jung also explained how the “game-changing” Matter compatibility standard makes the SmartThings Station smarter, and how the smart home is “all about interoperability, so your smart home just works.”
Jung also announced a partnership with Philips and its Hue smart lighting system. Via a Samsung smart TV app download, Philips Hue lights will be able to sync with any content on the latest Samsung smart TVs, bringing immersive “ambient” surround lighting while watching TV.
Samsung also unveiled the new Knox Matrix to create a securer smart home. Based on the company’s Knox smartphone security platform, Knox Matrix is a “defense-grade” security platform that turns a smart home into a smart shield. Knox Matrix enables two critical features: credential sync, which helps secure your information when moving data from device to device, and trust chain, which enables connected devices to monitor each other for security threats if attacked. Knox Matrix also will let users know if a smart home system is attacked and what actions were taken to block the attack.
