www.theverge.com
Honestly Im into this back panel design even without the solar functionality.Chinese phone brand Infinix is known to show off a flashy concept, and at this years MWC the company is looking skyward for inspiration. Its showing a phone with an integrated solar panel on the back, as well as a solar charging phone case. Theyre both in the concept phase, but the demo units I saw at MWC were functional and the idea is plenty appealing.Infinix calls this SolarEnergy-Reserving technology, and it uses perovskite solar cells like Ankers beach umbrella and cloak concept. These cells are thinner and cheaper to produce than traditional silicon solar cells. Thats paired with a system that helps regulate voltage called Maximum Power Point Tracking. The idea is to maximize power while managing heat; sitting under a hot sun might be good for solar cells, but its generally not great if you want to keep your phone from overheating. As it exists now, this technology can charge a phone at up to 2W, and is intended to pad out a phones reserved charge while its not in use.The phone with built-in solar panel on the back is pretty self-explanatory, but I think the case is more interesting. Its paired with a prototype phone that has a couple of small contacts on the side to deliver power from the case. Being able to swap it out for a regular case when youre, say, going out at night would make sense. Likewise, having it around during a power outage would be handy.Infinix is having a little fun at MWC, too, and is also showing off its second-gen color-changing E Ink phone. On the previous version, the back panel only changed color when plugged in. Now, it will run on the phones internal battery power, and is more customizable with a range of patterns and palettes.They all look pretty similar, but in theory you can choose a photo as inspiration for the color palette or set it to change with the weather. Because its 2025, it does this with the help of you guessed it artificial intelligence.