Samsung proves packaging can be more than just pretty trash

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Samsung-TV-box-cat-house
That's a cat house ... made from a TV box.
Photo: Samsung

We know Apple makes some of the prettiest packaging you’ll ever find wrapped around electronics, but it’s really just trash when you’re done with it. Samsung has found a terrific way to make its packaging useful.

Boxes built for the company’s newest TV sets can be turned quickly and easily turned into cardboard cat houses, small furniture, and other useful things when you’re done with them.

Apple fans have a tendency to gush about its packaging, and the attention to detail that goes into designing every box so that it’s almost as pretty as the product inside it. I’ve been guilty of it myself.

Unless you’re a hoarder, however, that packaging usually ends up making it into the trash eventually. You might use it to store other things, but it’s not useful for much else.

Arch rival Samsung, which bagged a CES 2020 Innovation Award for its packaging in January, recognizes that’s just a waste. It has designed its Serif and Sero TV boxes to be more than just boxes.

Samsung’s brilliantly useful TV packaging

The packaging is made from eco-friendly corrugated cardboard, which makes it nice and sturdy. But what’s really special about it is that it also features a “dot matrix design” that makes it easier to cut.

Included with every box is a digital manual, accessibly by scanning a QR code, that shows customers how the packaging can be easily sliced up and turned into other things.

Samsung-TV-box-book-rack
A handy magazine rack.
Photo: Samsung

Those things include cute houses for small pets, handy magazine and book racks, small end tables, shelves, and more.

What will you make?

“With our eco-packaging, we believe that we can provide our customers with a new experience that considers the environment as an important way to express themselves,” said Kangwook Chun, executive vice president at Samsung Electronics.

No one is forcing you to follow the manual, of course. In fact, Samsung encourages customers to get creative and come up with their own ideas for repurposing its packaging into something useful.

Samsung-TV-box-shelves
Shelving for your electronics.
Photo: Samsung

The company has teamed up with British lifestyle publication Dezeen for a new competition that awards those who can come up with the most unique and practical designs for its boxes.

Samsung’s newest Sero and Serif sets, which feature vibrant QLED displays, are available today with prices starting at $1,499.

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