On the list of products Samsung could choose to jam artificial intelligence into next, we wouldn’t have expected a water purifier to be right at the top. And yet, the South Korean company has launched its new Bespoke AI Water Purifier Countertop in its native country.
The water purifier isn’t set to be cheap, either. It’ll be priced in South Korea at approximately R18,500. Similar tabletop products here at home will run you less than a third of that. They’re lacking 2025’s AI buzzword and, Samsung says, can’t perform as well as its new Bespoke unit can.
Samsung’s purity test
Being a water purification device, it’s really all about the hardware. Which is just as well, because AI smarts seem to be confined to having app control and Bixby voice control for its functioning. None of the other features described requires artificial intelligence to work, just conventional software.
The Bespoke AI Water Purifier Countertop uses a four-stage filtration system that Samsung reckons will parse out 82 different contaminants down to 0.08 microns in size. These include microplastics and heavy metals, according to the company. The stainless steel unit can be disassembled for cleaning, while the NSF International-certified filter can perform self-cleaning operations.
Much of the internals are self-cleaning. The pipes are automatically sterilised via electrolysis every three days, while the purifier flushes unused water every four hours to counter bacterial buildup. Filter status is shown in Samsung’s SmartThings app, meaning users always know when to change it.
It is smarter than many of its rivals, able to heat water to preset temperatures (up to 90° Celsius) and dispense said water in increments of between 50ml to one litre at a time. This would be handy for recipes, cooking, coffee, or one of the 38 ramen presets Samsung has crammed into its water purifier.
