Apple just got granted their 8,368,654th patent
in the US.
This time it was for integrated touch sensor and solar assembly— a portable device whose screen would be touch sensitive as well as have a solar sensor panel.
In
an era where smart phones are packing more features than ever, a major limiting
factor that's seen is the battery life— and now Apple is trying to fix that.
The patent described the technology as “integrated touch sensor and solar panel configurations that may be used on portable devices, particularly handheld portable devices such as a media player or phone are disclosed. The integrated touch sensor array and solar cell stack-ups may include electrodes that are used both for collecting solar energy and for sensing on a touch sensor array. By integrating both the touch sensors and the solar cell layers into the same stack-up, surface area on the portable device may be conserved. In addition to being used for capacitive sensing, the integrated touch sensor and solar panel configurations may also be used for optical sensing."
Tapping solar energy to power cell phones might be an idea that revolutionizes the phone industry, or is a complete miss. In case solar powered phones do develop, and have a battery life that surpasses all current ones, then the question remains that only Apple will be using this technology, and not any other company.
Thus,
if Apple manages to succeed with the implementation of this new technology, its
features, along with it's unbeatable and now, eco-friendly technology, will
lead to Apple going even further in its race to be the numero uno, with no one
to compete against them.
There have been other solar powered phones in the past, notably, Samsung's Blue Earth phone. However, none of them have been an economic success in the market.
Here's to see if Apple can once again influence the market and create another game changer.
Articles:
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Apple-Granted-Patent-for-New-Solar-Powered-iPhone.html
http://inhabitat.com/samsung-releases-solar-powered-phone/
This will be interesting to see. Hopefully they'll be able to keep the phone as thin as it is right now as well as advancing it further. Honestly, I don't know where they keep thinking of ideas like this to change the smartphone game. I've heard however that the only thing left to do in the smartphone industry is to improve battery life. this may be the step.
ReplyDeleteit is indeed interesting to see how this will turn out in future. However, I feel like the focus on solar might not be as efficient as what we would expect it to be since the phone is usually covered from the sun(in our pockets or handbag).
ReplyDeleteim sure something more than battery life is to be coming (i heard people are working on foldable screens, etc., whether it is from apple or samsung or some other companies). it is really interesting to see future ideas coming from what patents these companies obtain though. i wonder how other businesses make use of this piece of information
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