Owners of Apple devices such as iPods and iPhones may soon be able to charge them up by leaving them out in the sun.
Apple has filed a patent for a technology which would enable a layer of solar cells to be inserted under a touch-sensitive screen of the sort used in the iPhone.
The patent, should it be awarded, has the potential to make the iPhone a truly portable device, dispensing with the need for it to be connected to a power supply by wires.
There is usually little room for solar panels on portable devices, once space taken up by the screen and keypad is taken into account – a fact which has plagued previous attempts to power MP3 players and mobile phones via the sun.
Cool – now if they could only do this with my house!
That’s OK…..if you want a bigger phone. Give me a tiny solar-powered charger that I can carry in my shirt pocket and plug my present phone into, and I’ll be happy.