This Japanese smartphone can be washed with soap and water

Smartphones are known to be magnets for fingerprints, smudges and other yucky stuff. For people who really hate a dirty screen, Kyocera may have just the device they’re looking for.

The Japanese smartphone maker has come out with a new phone - known as “rafre” - that can be cleaned with soap and hot water. The phone is a successor to an earlier handset that worked only with certain types of hand soap. The washable phone can be used with a range of soaps, including foaming body wash and hand soap.

The rafre also has cooking app that one can control using only hand gestures, which could obviate the need for a scrub at all.

On the downside, the phone will only be available in Japan, through service provider KDDI. Waterproof phones have long been a thing in Japan, so it’s not too much of a stretch to think there might be an appetite for soap-proof devices.

Here it is in all its sudsy glory: