I ran the solar numbers. The biggest driver is obviously how often does a person leave a phone out in the sunlight. If that person has it out in the sunlight about 3 to 4 hours a day, that will yield 2 to 7 WHr depending on latitude or sunniness. I work in an office environment, and people leave their phones on their desk, out of their pockets all the time, so, I think it is an interesting feature at least. If no sun, obviously no energy from the solar PV. If you are in a sunny place, the solar PV will extend the runtime.
Solar irradiance is about 0.65 W/in2. You can have 25% efficient PV cells in the back, 10% efficient transparent IR/UV cells in the front. You can recapture some of the energy used by the display and the heat from the device. Yes, the perovskite transparent cells are not here yet. Feels closer and closer everyday.
I think the feature is beneficial because it will trickle charge in sunlight, 1 to 2 W for a 6" iPhone if perpendicular to sunlight. Better on the back than the front. It's a passive feature that works to keep your phone running. On a long day? If you phone is in sunlight, it trickle charges and keeps it running a long time. Not a screen addict, and only using 50% of the battery a day, it will enable to use the phone day after day a long time.
Features that benefit everyone is pretty rare these days. Hard to think of one.
Comments
Solar irradiance is about 0.65 W/in2. You can have 25% efficient PV cells in the back, 10% efficient transparent IR/UV cells in the front. You can recapture some of the energy used by the display and the heat from the device.
I think the feature is beneficial because it will trickle charge in sunlight, 1 to 2 W for a 6" iPhone if perpendicular to sunlight. Better on the back than the front. It's a passive feature that works to keep your phone running. On a long day? If you phone is in sunlight, it trickle charges and keeps it running a long time. Not a screen addict, and only using 50% of the battery a day, it will enable to use the phone day after day a long time.
Features that benefit everyone is pretty rare these days. Hard to think of one.