One less cable: Samsung’s latest monitors can wirelessly charge your phone

By Jon Martindale July 27, 2015

Selling displays requires getting creative, because everyone and their dog has a decent-sized screen with support for 1080p at this point. That’s why you hear manufacturers touting curved displays, and frame-rate syncing technologies, even though they can really push the price of the screen up. They need to sell you on something.

Samsung has a new something. Instead of trying to make the display itself sound like an excellent tool for gaming, watching movies or photo editing, it has instead built in a wireless charger for your smartphone. Using Qi wireless charging technology, you can set your phone on the monitor’s standand charge it without any additional hardware.

You will of course need a Qi-compatible smartphone to make use of it, however, such as Samsung’s Galaxy phones. If your phone doesn’t support wireless charging, you can add the feature by purchasing a wireless charging case.

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samsung qi wireless charging monitor se370 3 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

samsung qi wireless charging monitor se370 2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

samsung qi wireless charging monitor se370 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

That doesn’t mean that the SE370 is a pushover as a monitor, though. It’s available in 23.6-inch and 27-inch configurations and supports up to 1080p resolution. It also can utilize AMD’s Freesync technology and has a four millisecond response time, so it should be decent for gaming. Input options include DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 and a traditional VGA port for those that are nostalgic for that little blue plug.

Unfortunately, the above promotional video is about all the information we have on the display right now, as Samsung hasn’t graced us with pricing or a release date. It may not be too expensive since it lacks QHD or UltraHD resolution — somewhat surprising for a 27-inch screen — and has a rather average response time. The upcharge for Qi charging can’t be too significant, since a standalone Qi charging pad can be had for less than $20.

Still, wireless charging in the base is a nice touch, and it may tempt users who already own a compatible smartphone.

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