Future iPhones To Go Green?

Posted by Eric March on June 1, 2008 at 6:53 pm

Recently, it was revealed that Apple has filed a patent that details a method of inserting a thin layer of solar sells behind a LCD screen in order to boost the power capabilities of an LCD-equipped device — Macbooks, iPods, and iPhone, for example. The concept would create a thin, transparent layer of photovoltaic cells beneath the LCD layer of the screen in order to collect a small amount of light and convert it into power.

There are a few problems with the method, however. To begin with, the solar cells would be partially obscured by the LCD screen which, while transparent, still only lets a certain percentage of the light through, so the efficiency of the cells would be dramatically reduced — and solar cells are already pretty inefficient, obtaining only about a 30% conversion rate. Second, the reverse would be true here: Backlighting may be partially obscured by the solar cells for the same reasons, so LED backlights would possibly have to be made brighter to make up for it. Third, electronics don’t get on well with the hot summer sun. Fourth, the most benefit would be seen by those with the largest screens, such as the Macbook, because solar panels need lots of real estate to work with any great efficiency. iPods and the iPhone wouldn’t see a huge boost. And finally, this probably wouldn’t work very well with various flavours of OLED, which is likely where electronics may be heading if they can finally perfect them to the point where they don’t start fading out within a few months of use.

Still, it’s an interesting start, and even a small boost would be beneficial, especially given the iPhone’s rather lackluster battery life. I wouldn’t expect to see anything materialize from this for at least another year or two, however.