Related Articles
Samsung
Samsung has outfitted its latest monitor with the ability to charge your mobile devices.
The SE370 is the industry’s first monitor with an integrated wireless charging function for mobile devices, Samsung announced on Monday. The new monitor eschews the need to hook up wires and ports to charge your mobile phone and instead taps into the Qi wireless charging standard, which supports a variety of phones, including Samsung’s own Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge as well as many of Microsoft’s Lumia phones and certain phones made by LG, Motorola and Sony.
The SE370 monitor integrates charging ports directly into the stand, so users simply have to place their mobile device on the stand’s charging area to give it the necessary juice. An LED light confirms that the device is automatically being charged.
As sales of desktops have declined, so have sales of PC monitors. In June, research firm IDC estimated that PC monitor sales for the second quarter of 2015 would slip by 3.4 percent to 28.8 million units from the same quarter last year.
For all of 2015, the forecast calls for sales of around 120 million. By 2019, IDC expects sales to shrink to less than 104 million. Samsung is still one of the leading PC monitor makers, coming in second behind Dell during the first quarter, according to IDC. However, both its market share and shipments inched down. The inclusion of innovations such as wireless charging could give Samsung’s new monitor enough differentiation to attract more buyers.
“Technology should support, not interfere with, active lifestyles,” Seok-gi Kim, Samsung’s senior vice president for Visual Display Business, said in a statement. “Our customers increasingly rely on mobile devices to obtain information and interact with others; so by doing away with the clutter on their desks, we are helping them to use their mobile devices in a smarter way. Through the integration of wireless mobile charging technology, our innovative SE370 monitor dramatically improves efficiency, convenience and connectivity at home and at work.”
Available in screen sizes of 23.6 inches and 27 inches, the SE370 offers features designed to make viewing easier on the eyes, according to Samsung. The monitor uses an eye-save mode that reduces the effects of blue light, which can damage our eyes and cause sleep disturbances. The eye-save mode also attempts to reduce eye strain by tweaking the picture quality to match your surroundings. Further, the monitor has a flicker-free feature that tries to protect your eyes from the flickering that occurs with standard monitors, Samsung said.
The monitor uses a Plane-to-Line-Switching (PLS) panel, which lets you view the screen from within a 178-degree wide viewing angle. The SE370 also boasts a speedy 4-millisecond response time that handles fast-action on the screen without blurring or ghosting, Samsung added.
Samsung didn’t reveal where or when the new monitor will be available or how much it will cost. The company did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
