When artificial intelligence and eco-conscious technologies are finding their way inside of the phones, it’s fitting to see them make some difference on the outside as well. The back of a smartphone is generally a blank canvas with a camera lens array on the top. Some OEMs use it for features like wireless charging, but Infinix Mobiles is showcasing a new possibility: an AI-driven solar energy innovation to power its smartphone.
Yes, that translates into using solar power to juice up a smartphone. The idea of a solar-powered phone will instinctively get many of us excited, but sadly, this is only a concept for now, and may take a while before going mainstream. That said, Inifinix displayed the idea of solar panels on the back of the smartphone and a solar charging phone case at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), underway in Barcelona.
Designer: Infinix
The concept phone and care are integrated with (what Infinix calls) the SolarEnergy-Reversing Technology. This basically includes Perovskite solar panel on the back of the phone that absorbs a broader spectrum of light than silicon cells. Sitting under the sun with the solar panels charging your phone would feel like a good idea, but you could run the risk of overheating your device in the process. Infinix has this addressed with the use of artificial intelligence, which can help regulate the temperature (in extreme environments), and thus the overheating issue, with the use of MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technology.
The solar panel on the Infinix concept phone and the charging case can for now create up to 2W of power. This is transferred to the smartphone from the case through “discreet contact points.” Of course, this is not the kind of power you can trust with keeping your phone charges, but it can be handy during a power out a maybe to keep the last breath of the battery on a steady CPR. So, as Infinix says, this can be helpful in “supporting extended standby time.” The SolarEnergy-Reversing Technology allows the smartphone to “store power from soft indoor lighting and overcast outdoor conditions,” in addition to the bright sun.
Alongside energy innovation to power the phone both indoors and outside, Infinix also introduced a tri-fold phone and E-Color Shift 2.0 at MWC. It is a customization experience to personalize a smartphone’s back, which was first displayed at the MWC last year. Expanding on the efficacy of its predecessor to personalize the back of a phone, the second-generation color-changing E Ink display is customizable in a range of colors and patterns from weather and photo provided. The display draws power from the phone’s internal battery.
From how it stands Infinix isn’t assuring a solar-powered phone anytime soon, but its concept shows that such a thing is possible and could see the light of day very soon. Infinix has debuted the tech on a smartphone, but it envisions to bring this solar energy innovation to more digital devices and wearable to herald consumer tech into a sustainable direction.
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