Samsung's UV sterilizer both disinfects and wirelessly charges your phone, now available globally

Update, June 7 (1:00 pm ET): The UV steriliser is now being made available globally.

As COVID-19 cases continue surging across the world, personal hygiene has taken center stage as one of the most important means of preventing infection. And while washing your hands every so often is certainly important, let's not forget that your phone may be ten times as dirty as your toilet seat — and could even have fecal matter on it! Yuck!

Thanks to Samsung, though, you won't have to worry about those pesky little viruses contaminating your phone. The company this week launched a new UV sterilizer for your phone — and any other electronics, for that matter — which it claims kills up to 99% of germs and bacteria, thanks to its use of UV-C radiation. Laboratory tests by Philips using the same type of radiation on the coronavirus would seem to back up that claim.

The product is a simple, gray enclosure that, Samsung claims, should thoroughly disinfect both sides of your phone in just about 10 minutes. As an added bonus, the sterilizer also doubles as a wireless charger, although its atrociously slow 10W charging rate may have you missing your good old wired charger soon after.

The product seems to be an extension of the phone sanitizing service Samsung was already offering its customers in select locations across the world. The UV Sanitizer in question, however, is currently only being sold in Thailand for 1,590 baht (~$50). Hopefully, the product will make its way to other countries soon, but until then, there are plenty of alternatives in the market that do the same thing.

Best Phone Cleaning Kits in 2020

Gorillas in the midst of better photos

The new Gorilla Glass is bringing better photography to your next Galaxy

The newest version of Corning's Gorilla Glass DX is coming to smartphones cameras to help improve photography. Samsung will be the first to launch a product with the new glass, which could appear on its next Galaxy smartphones.

Android 12

Android 12 kills font and icon shape options in Material You theming menus

Users aren't too happy about Android 12 removing certain style options, but Google may have had the final say on the matter.

The best there are

These are the best Android phones you can buy right now

There are so many great Android phones to buy, so it can be tough to know which one to get. These are the best of the best at each price point.

Getting the best case

The Galaxy S20 FE is the best phone, so it deserves the best case

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S20 FE, and the device is sure to turn plenty of heads. With stiff competition in the mid-range market, it's clear that Samsung wants to compete, and the S20 FE is fantastic. If you're picking one of these awesome new devices up, make sure you pair it with a case to keep it looking awesome.