Samsung is ditching the batteries on all of its new TV remotes

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It’s CES 2021, which means plenty of new TVs are on the horizon. The one thing they all used to have in common was the need for replaceable batteries, but that changes this year. Samsung has added solar power to the remote control bundled with every 2021 model, so you’ll never have to hunt for AAA batteries ever again.

The new Solar Cell Remote Control has an ultra-efficient solar panel, which can be recharged from both outdoor or indoor light levels, just like this potential new Google TV remote. If your home doesn’t get much light, you can recharge it via USB, so your remote stays topped up. Either way, 2021 is the year you can finally say bye-bye to alkaline batteries or even rechargables.

The rest of the remote is supposedly pretty eco-friendly as well. Almost a quarter of the 31 grams of plastic used is from “recycled polyethylene terephthalate,” which keeps plastic out of landfills. Samsung projects that these new solar-powered remote controls will prevent 99 million AAA batteries from going to landfill in just seven years. Wow.

Sure, using rechargeable batteries in your existing remote will also reduce that number of trashed batteries, but those only have a limited number of recharges so will end up in the landfill eventually. Samsung is also increasing the amount of eco-friendly packaging used in its TV boxes. Will we finally see the end of styrofoam inserts in TV packaging? We can only hope so.

Glad to see Samsung ditching the batteries in its remotes? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.