Solar powered Apple handhelds and laptops?

Monday, May 26, 2008 at 12:31 PM | Posted by kazouz

A new patent application published recently suggests that Apple is looking into the use of solar cells to power some of its devices, according to MacRumors.

The devices explored by the Cupertino, CA company range from handheld devices such as the iPod and iPhone to notebook computers. The use of solar power in such devices presents the potential of significantly increasing battery life.

The main difficulty is that the devices have limited space available for solar panels but a technique described by Apple is placing the solar panels behind the LCD screen of the device.

That would allow the solar panel to absorb ambient light that passes through the LCD screen. If possible, this method would require no exterior design changes.