Better clear off some space near a window: Apple has filed a patent showing solar cells incorporated into its iPhone. Solar-powered devices are about to go big time.
The company clearly envisions having solar power integrated into a whole range of its touch-screen products, based on the patent figures shown on the site Patently Apple. More detailed figures show possible single or double layer substrate construction in the iPhone. One approach has a solar cell with electrodes under an indium tin oxide layer; another shows a flexible touch sensor indium oxide pattern with a solar polymer layer on the bottom.
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As Inhabitat's Yuka Yoneda points out, solar-powered phones are nothing new. LG, Samsung and ZTE all showed solar-powered prototypes last year. What is new is that it's the freaking iPhone. Plus, the way Apple is envisioning the solar technology, a cell won't be tacked onto the back but integrated right into the device so users won't notice anything different while interacting with the touch screen.
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Full disclosure: I've resisted getting an iPhone since I'm not on AT&T's network. Embarrassing full disclosure: I still use a mobile phone that's so obsolete I saw two hipsters kicking one around on the floor at a party recently. OK, now you know. Back to this solar business.
Patently Apple's Jack Purcher isn't sure exactly when the solar cell integration will happen, but he's optimistic about it, saying that switching the backside substrate to a non-metal surface could enable a double-sided solar panel design, thereby doubling the power that solar cells could draw in. "[W]e could seriously see this power assisted technology make its debut sooner than most skeptics think."
What's most exciting to me isn't so much the prospect of a solar-powered iPhone as the doors this move opens for other smart touch phones. Remember when Apple filed patents for touch-screen technology? It was only a few years before touch-screen devices were everywhere. I'm thinking that in the next several years, a range of new smart phone models will only need a few rays to recharge. I can see it now: instead of vying for wall plugs, we'll be angling for window access.
Image: Figures from Apple's patent showing a solar cell integrated beneath the touch panel. Credit: Getty Images and Patently Apple.
Tags: Cell Phones, Gadgets, Green Electronics, Green Tech, Solar Power
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