Kyocera will be showing off a solar-powered smartphone at MWC

Alternative means of powering your phone isn’t really something that’s kicked off just yet, despite there being some options popping up every now and again. But what about a phone that doesn’t need to be plugged into charge because it has its own solar panels? Sounds ludicrous, but Kyocera has a prototype that’ll be on display at MWC.

Charging a phone using solar energy isn’t exactly an original concept, but rather than relying on bulky cases or external panels Kyocera will be integrating the panels into the phone’s display. That’s right, the display itself will house the solar panels.

They’re called Wysips Crystal panels, and they’ve been developed by SunPartner Technologies. SunPartner won’t go into any details about how they work, but has said that the panels sit beneath the touchscreen (to prevent interference), are 90 per cent transparent, and can obviously be used to top up your phone’s battery level.

Bear in mind that this is only a prototype proof-of-concept, and not a phone that’s going to be heading to market anytime soon. As for the phone itself, the panels have been retrofitted into the display of the 2013 version of Kyocera’s Torque smartphone.

So will it work? Who knows, we’ll just have to wait until MWC to find out for sure.