Samsung C-Lab redesigned old phones into a Bitcoin mining rig

Samsung's Creative Lab. located in the Samsung Digital City in Korea, is dedicated to bringing forward innovative projects and business ideas by upcycling – a process that gives outdated devices a new life by giving them a new purpose. During a recent developer's conference in San Francisco, the Samsung C-Lab presented various new ideas for upcycling old devices. They introduced a variety of creative utilities, including a Bitcoin mining device.

Although the company refused to reveal many details, they claim that eight combined Samsung Galaxy S5s can mine coins at a much higher efficiency rate than a standard desktop computer.

Samsung spokesperson Robin Schultz stated, “the innovative platform provides an environmentally responsible way for old Galaxy mobile devices to breathe new life, providing new possibilities and potential extended value for devices that might otherwise be forgotten in desk drawers or discarded.”

iFixit CEO, Kyle Wiens, believes that company’s upcycling program has the ability to boost the secondary market value of outdated Samsung devices.

“[Samsung] wants to maintain the value of their devices long-term. If they know they’re going to justify a new price of a thousand dollars for a new Note, it’s easier to get people to spend that thousand dollars if they can resell it for five hundred,” the CEO said. iFixit is involved in repairing Galaxy S3s for Samsung’s upcycling initiative.

The company also showcased many other innovative projects during the conference and plans on making all of them easily available online, including the software used by the team for unlocking and repurposing old phones. The projects include an old Galaxy tablet redesigned into an Ubuntu-powered laptop, a Galaxy S3 used to monitor a fish tank, and an old phone integrated with facial recognition as the basis of a home security system.

The software being used in the upcycling project to remove Android will be made available on GitHub, an internet hosting device. Users can utilize it to make outdated devices useful by accessing, sharing and inventing new purposes for them. The site is thus expected to form the basis for a decentralized community working together for the inventive repurposing of technology.

“What [Samsung] built is a layer between the hardware and you being able to install anything you want on it. It's a step lower than jailbreaking, it's removing Android entirely,” Wien stated while praising the company’s initiative.