Samsung just launched the world's first commercial display with a housing made from phytoplankton-derived bio-resin. The 13-inch Color E-Paper (EM13DX) targets retail and corporate spaces where traditional paper signage still dominates, promising zero-watt static display and a 40% reduction in manufacturing carbon emissions compared to petroleum-based plastics. With this release, Samsung's pushing deeper into sustainable enterprise hardware while defending its 36.2% share of the global digital signage market.
Samsung is making a quiet but pointed move in the enterprise display space. The company just launched its 13-inch Color E-Paper display - the EM13DX model - featuring a housing built from phytoplankton-derived bio-resin. It's the first commercial display to use this material at scale, and Samsung's betting it can replace traditional printed signage in retail stores, office lobbies, and anywhere else businesses still tape up paper posters.
"As businesses look for more flexible and efficient ways to communicate, Samsung Color E-Paper represents a shift in how digital signage fits into everyday operations," Hyoung Jae Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display at Samsung Electronics, told Samsung Newsroom. The pitch is straightforward - ditch paper waste, cut energy costs, and do it with a material that sounds like something from a science fiction novel.
The housing is independently verified by UL to consist of 45% recycled plastic and 10% phytoplankton-based bio-resin. Samsung claims this bio-resin alternative to petroleum-based plastics reduces manufacturing carbon emissions by more than 40%, based on Product Carbon Footprint data following ISO standards. Even the packaging is 100% paper - box, cushion, and all. It's clear Samsung's targeting corporate sustainability goals as much as it's selling display tech.
But the real hook here isn't just the algae-based casing. The display itself runs on advanced digital ink technology that consumes zero watts when showing static images. That's not a typo - when content isn't updating, the screen draws no power at all. For businesses running signage 24/7, the energy savings stack up fast. When content does refresh, power consumption still runs far below conventional LED or LCD displays.
